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Robert MacNeil.[/caption]
Critically acclaimed novelist, journalist, and TV news anchor Robert MacNeil will be speaking with Roger Rosenblatt in the next installment of the Writers Speak Wednesdays series of free author talks and readings open to the public at Stony Brook Southampton. Mr. MacNeil will read from and talk about his work on Wednesday, April 6, at 7 p.m. in the Radio Lounge on the second floor of Chancellors Hall.
Mr. MacNeil’s career as a journalist began at the Reuters news agency in London in 1955; five years later he moved into broadcast reporting as a London correspondent for NBC News. In 1963 he joined NBC’s Washington bureau, covering the Civil Rights Movement, the White House, and the assassination of John F. Kennedy. He worked for the BBC before joining PBS in 1971, going on to become the executive editor of the MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour on PBS and winning the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2008.
He is the author of four novels: “Burden of Desire,” “Breaking News,” “Portrait of Julia: A Novel,” and “The Voyage.” He is also the author of three memoirs and is the coauthor of “The Story of English” and its sequel, “Do You Speak American?”
Mr. MacNeil also serves as the chairman of the board of the MacDowell Colony, the century-old retreat for artists, writers and musicians in Peterborough, New Hampshire. He is a trustee of the Freedom Forum Newseum, the world’s first museum of journalism, and is co-chairman of the Council of Conservators of the New York Public Library. He has four children and lives with his wife, Donna, in Manhattan and Nova Scotia.
The final writer for the 2016 winter/spring series will be Erica Jong, reading from and talking about her work on April 27.
On May 4, the evening will be devoted to readings by “the stars of tomorrow”: students currently enrolled in the MFA in Creative Writing and Literature program.
Writers Speak Wednesdays programs are free and open to the public. The evenings begin with a brief reception at 6:30 p.m.; readings begin at 7 p.m., followed by a Q&A and book signing. All programs are held in the Radio Lounge on the second floor of Chancellors Hall at Stony Brook Southampton, 239 Montauk Highway, Southampton. For more information, call (631) 632-5030 or visit www.stonybrook.edu/mfa. On Facebook, visit Writers Speak Wednesdays; to follow on Twitter, @ WritersSpeakWed.
