posted 10/17/11 11:20 AM | updated 10/17/11 11:20 AM
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Newbery Medal-winning Author Lois Lowry to Speak in Ketchum

By SunValleyCenter
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Ketchum, ID — Lois Lowry, one of the most acclaimed children’s and young adult authors writing today, will speak in Ketchum on Thursday, November 3, as part of the Sun Valley Center for the Arts 2011/2012 Lecture Series.

Lowry, a two-time winner of children’s literature’s most prestigious award, the Newbery Medal, is known for addressing difficult subject matter ranging from racism to terminal illness, murder and the Holocaust. Her writing is thoughtful, challenging and never condescending.

“We invited Lois here as part of our multidisciplinary project, Awkward Stage: Adolescence and Identity, because she is so good at reaching adolescents,” says Britt Udesen, The Center’s Director of Education and Humanities. “Lowry’s The Giver is widely read in our school district and is required for students at Wood River Middle School. But like all the best children’s literature, her work resonates with adults, too.”

This classic young adult novel addresses the controversial and important issue of questioning authority. In addition to attending the lecture, adults are invited to read or reread The Giver and join in a hosted book club on Tuesday, October 25th at 5:30pm at The Community Library in Ketchum.  

Lowry, who won the Newbery Medal for The Giver in 1993 and Number the Stars in 1990, did not publish her first book until she was 40 years old but has made up for lost time since then, publishing more than 30 books including an autobiography. While in the Wood River Valley, she will spend time at the Wood River Middle School discussing The Giver with students.

Part one of a trilogy, The Giver is set in the future and follows a 12-year-old boy named Jonas who is selected to inherit the position of “Receiver of Memories.” Despite having won the Newbery Medal, garnering critical acclaim and being on many school reading lists, the book has also been the target of challenges by parents and groups who object to its violence or to passages about infanticide and euthanasia. Others find references to Jonas’s hormonal “stirrings” inappropriate.

Lowry says that such objections to the book make for “a difficult situation” and worries about the

chilling effect such controversy can have on librarians and teachers, and what it means regarding whether or not the book will be read. “Even though they [librarians and teachers] may like

a book and want to teach the book, they don’t have time to deal with the bureaucracy that’s required [to fight a challenge], and they’re likely to choose a less controversial book.”

Individual tickets to Lois Lowry’s lecture are $15 for members, $25 for non-members and $5 students. The lecture begins at 6:30 pm Thursday, November 3 at the Church of the Big Wood in Ketchum. Buy tickets online at www.sunvalleycenter.org, call 726.9491 ex 10 or stop by The Center in Ketchum.

The Center thanks lecture sponsors Britt and Peter Palmedo. Lecture Series sponsors are the Castellano Wood family and Gail & Jack Thornton.

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