Tim O'Brien Ames/Milner Visiting Author, Oct. 23

Tim O'Brien, author of The Things They Carried, will make two public presentations on Thursday, Oct. 23 at Illinois State University and Illinois Wesleyan University.  O'Brien's visit to Bloomington-Normal is part of the annual Ames/Milner Visiting Author Program. Both presentations are free and open to the public.

O'Brien will hold an informal question and answer session from 2-3 p.m. in Illinois Wesleyan's Hansen Student Center, 300 Beecher St., Bloomington.  "An Evening with Tim O'Brien" will take place in Illinois State's Bone Student Center Old Main Room at 7 p.m.  A book signing will follow the evening presentation.

O'Brien has been hailed as "the best American writer of his generation" by the San Francisco Chronicle.  He is the author of eight books, including The Things They Carried, a novel about a platoon of American soldiers fighting in Vietnam.  His first novel, Going After Cacciato, won the National Book Award in Fiction in 1979.  O'Brien's other works include If I Die in a Combat Zone, Northern Lights, The Nuclear Age, Tomcat in Love and July, July. 

The Ames/Milner Visiting Author Program is sponsored by Illinois Wesleyan University's Ames Library, Illinois State University's Milner Library and the Alice and Fannie Fell Trust.