September 30, 2003 Michael Dirda to Discuss His New Memoir on Oct. 14

Pulitzer Prize-winning literary critic Michael Dirda, senior editor of "The Washington Post Book World," will discuss his new memoir , "An Open Book: Coming of Age in the Heartland " (W.W. Norton, 2003), at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 14, at the Library of Congress in the Montpelier Room, sixth floor, James Madison Memorial Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E.

The program, which is free and open to the public, is part of the Center for the Book's author series, Books & Beyond which highlights books of special relevance to the Library of Congress. It is co-sponsored by three of the center's national reading promotion partners: the Washington Book Publishers, the Washington Rare Book Group and the Washington chapter of the Women's National Book Association. A book-signing will follow the talk. No tickets or reservations are required.

Worried about his son’s passion for reading, Dirda’s steelworker father complained, "All that kid wants to do is stick his nose in a book." In "An Open Book," Dirda recreates a not-quite-classic American boyhood and adolescence in the Midwestern steel town of Lorain, Ohio, and later at Oberlin College. In this wistful memoir, he also describes the books, authors and fictional characters that shaped his life and inhabited his daydreams.

The Center for the Book was established in 1977 to use the resources and prestige of the Library of Congress to stimulate public interest in books, reading, literacy and libraries. For information about its program, publications and forthcoming events, and the activities of its affiliates in 50 states and the District of Columbia, consult its Web site at www.loc.gov/cfbook.