Madeline Miller, award-winning author of “The Song of Achilles” and “Circe,” will read from her work on Wednesday, Feb. 16. The virtual event, “Literary Witches: From Circe, to Shakespeare, Salem, and Oz,” is the latest in the University of Lynchburg’s Ida Wise East Memorial Lecture series. The reading will begin at 7 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public. To attend, register here and you will receive a Google Meet link on the day of the lecture.
“The Song of Achilles” won the 2012 Orange Prize for Fiction. That year, Miller also was shortlisted for the Stonewall Writer of the Year award. Both “The Song of Achilles” and “Circe” were also on The New York Times Bestsellers list.
Miller earned her BA and MA in classics from Brown University, and she has taught and tutored high school students in Latin, Greek, and Shakespeare for more than 15 years.
Her novels have been translated into more than 25 languages and her essays have appeared on NPR and in numerous publications, including The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, and Lapham’s Quarterly.
Miller also will meet with students, including the Westover Honors class “Witches, Magic, and Demons,” during her virtual visit.
“We are thrilled to have Madeline Miller with us to discuss her novels, which are firmly grounded in the classics,” said Dr. Nichole Sanders, professor of history and the John Franklin East Distinguished Professor in the Humanities.
“Her work is emblematic of the interdisciplinary nature of the humanities, where we see history, literature, religious studies, and other disciplines coming together to produce art.”
The Ida Wise East Memorial Lecture was established in 1979 by a gift from Margaret East Nelson of Norfolk, Virginia, in memory of her mother, Ida Wise East, and in recognition of the lifelong interest of the East and Nelson families in the humanities.
