Campus Connection

Author, professor sets La Crosse visits

A University of Georgia professor of English and author will give two presentations as part of the second La Crosse Reads. Sujata Iyengar gives a public talk on “Books at the End of the World” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, April 10, in The Theatre, UW-La Crosse Student Union, 521 East Ave. N. A reception will follow the presentation in 3314 Student Union. Iyengar will also participate in a screening and discussion of Baz Luhrmann’s “Romeo + Juliet” at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 11, at the La Crosse Main Public Library, 800 Main St. Both presentations, free and open to the public, are part of La Crosse Reads, a community-wide, grass-roots book read. The read is administered by the UWL English Department and the La Crosse Public Library. Participants are reading “Station Eleven” by Emily St. John Mandel for the second annual La Crosse Reads. The book, Mandel’s fourth novel, won the Arthur C. Clarke Award, was a finalist for the National Book Award and PEN/Faulkner Award, was an Amazon Best Book of the Month, and was named one of the best books of the year by more than a dozen publications. It has been translated into 27 languages. The novel is set 20 years after a devastating flu pandemic destroys civilization as we know it. A woman moves between the settlements of the altered world with a small troupe of actors and musicians until they encounter a violent prophet who threatens the tiny band’s existence. Iyengar’s visit is sponsored by the UWL English Department, College of Liberal Studies, Visiting Scholars of Color Grant and the La Crosse Public Library.