5:12 p.m., March 1, 2011----Richard McCann, professor of literature in the Master of Fine Arts Program in Creative Writing at American University in Washington, D.C., will speak on “Memory and Imagination” at 4:30 p.m., Tuesday, March 15, in the Reserve Room of the Morris Library.

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Presented by the University of Delaware Library, the program will feature McCann reading from his work and talking about autobiographical writing and the distillation of memory.

McCann is the author of Mother of Sorrows, which was published in 2005 to great acclaim. It is a work of fiction with the ambiance of a nonfiction memoir. He is also the author of Ghost Letters, a collection of poems, published in 2002. His fiction, creative nonfiction and poetry have appeared in such magazines as The Atlantic, Esquire, Ploughshares, Ms. and the Washington Post Magazine, as well as in numerous anthologies including The O. Henry Prize Stories 2007 and Best American Essays 2000.

McCann is best known for Mother of Sorrows, which the New York Post described as “achingly beautiful.” Mark Kamine of The New York Times Book Review wrote, “These lushly detailed linked stories -- which traverse post-World War II, middle-class America -- have a complexity that feels expertly distilled .... the stories acquire a rare thematic richness.”

Mother of Sorrows was announced as one of the Best Books of 2005 by both the San Francisco Bay Times and the Washingtonian Magazine and was a finalist for the 2006 PEN/Robert Bingham Award and the 2005 Lambda Literary Award.

McCann has received both a Fulbright and a Guggenheim, as well as grants and awards from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center.

He received a master's degree in creative writing and modern literature from Hollins University and was a Rockefeller Fellow at the University of Iowa, where he was awarded his Ph.D. in American studies.

The extensive Richard McCann Papers are held by Special Collections in the University of Delaware Library. The finding aid for the Richard McCann Papers is available directly at [www.udel.edu/library/ud/spec/findaids/html/mss0616.html] or via the Library's website.

A reception for program attendees will follow McCann's presentation in the Reserve Room. Interested individuals may request a printed invitation by calling the Office of the Vice Provost at 302-831-2231 or by sending email to [libraryrsvp@winsor.lib.udel.edu]. An online version of the invitation is available at [http://www2.lib.udel.edu/new/2011RichardMcCannInvite.html]. The program, which is cosponsored by the Faculty Senate Cultural Activities and Public Events, is open to the University of Delaware community and to the public.

The University of Delaware Bookstore will have Mother of Sorrows available for purchase before and after the program, and McCann is willing to sign his books during the reception.

For library hours, call (302) 831-BOOK or check the Library website.