Distinguished Speakers Series - Andre Dubus III

Andre Dubus III to be Keynote Speaker at NSU’s 2008–2009 Undergraduate Convocation

The Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences proudly welcomes Andre Dubus III as the first guest of the college's 2008-2009 Distinguished Speakers Series. Dubus will speak at Convocation, the annual ceremony that marks the beginning of the academic year. At Convocation, the student body and the faculty join together in anticipation of academic excellence and shared intellectual pursuit. Convocation will be held on Tuesday, September 2, 2008, at 4:00 p.m. in the Miniaci Performing Arts Center. A reception will follow at the Dr. William S. Spears Courtyard Atrium in the Carl DeSantis Building.

Andre Dubus III is the author of a collection of short fiction, The Cage Keeper and Other Stories, and the novels, Bluesman and House of Sand and Fog. His works has been included in The Best American Essays of 1994, The Best Spiritual Writing of 1999, and The Best of Hope Magazine. He has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, The National Magazine Award for Fiction, The Pushcart Prize, and was a Finalist for the Prix de Rome Fellowship from the Academy of Arts and Letters. Now a major motion picture starring Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly and published in twenty-five countries, his novel House of Sand and Fog was a fiction finalist for the National Book Award, the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the L.L. Winship/PEN New England Award, and Booksense Book of the Year. It was also an Oprah Book Club Selection and #1 New York Times bestseller. Andre’s new novel The Garden of Last Days was published in June 2008.

A member of PEN American Center and the Executive Board of PEN New England, Andre Dubus has served as a panelist for the National Endowment for the Arts and has taught writing at Harvard University, Tufts University, the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and Emerson College.

He is married to performer Fontaine Dollas Dubus. They live in Massachusetts with their three children.

About House of Sand and Fog:

“It is rare these days to encounter a novel that follows the rules of Greek tragedy…Dubus is a taker of risks, and here he ups the ante by making his protagonist, an immigrant trying to establish a foothold in America…A craftsman of character and dialogue, Dubus has dared to push his limits.”
– San Francisco Chronicle

“This is a story, told in highly visual, descriptive language, about how people you might choose to be your neighbors are repeatedly trapped by circumstances and transformed by events until finally they can—and do—destroy one another.” – The New York Times Book Review

All in the NSU community are welcome to attend Convocation. For additional information, contact the Office of the Dean in the Farquhar College of Arts and Sciences at (954) 262-8068, email convocation@nsu.nova.edu, or visit www.undergrad.nova.edu/currentstudents/convocation.