Award-winning author to speak March 26

March 24, 2014 | Events, UToday, — Languages, Literature and Social Sciences
By Aimee Portala



Dr. Lawrence Coates, award-winning author of The Garden of the World, will visit The University of Toledo to discuss the novel writing process, the challenges of writing historical fiction, and the history of the wine industry in California.

Coates

Coates

He will speak Wednesday, March 26, at 6 p.m. in Libbey Hall.

Coates was awarded the 2013 Nancy Dasher Award for The Garden of the World from the College English Association of Ohio, which recognizes outstanding publications by faculty from member departments of the professional organization.

The Garden of the World takes place during Prohibition and depicts the struggles of a pioneer winemaking family determined to make the finest wines in California.

A Publisher’s Weekly review of the novel from March 2012 stated, “Coates does an admirable job in exploring the bonds between misguided father and prodigal son, all against a backdrop of a fallen American Eden.”

Coates’ first novel, The Blossom Festival, won the Western States Book Award for Fiction and was selected for the Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Program. He recently was awarded the Barthelme Prize for Short Prose from the Gulf Coast literary journal. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Fiction.

The California native served in the Coast Guard and the Merchant Marine prior to attending college. He received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz, a master’s degree from the University of California, Berkeley, and a doctorate from the University of Utah. He teaches creative writing at Bowling Green State University.

The free, public event is sponsored by the UT Department of English Language and Literature.

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