Media Contact:
Mary Kate Keith, 919/515-2841

Oct. 25, 2004

Friends of the Library Fall Luncheon Presents Author Elaine Orr

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Dr. Elaine Orr

Dr. Elaine Orr, professor of English at North Carolina State University, will be the guest speaker at the NC State Friends of the Library’s annual Fall Luncheon. Her presentation is entitled “Kindred, Stranger: A Nigerian/American Autobiography.” The event will be held at 12 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 10, in the Jane S. McKimmon Center on the NC State campus.

Orr specializes in American literature and feminist theory and recently finished a tour for her nonfiction book Gods of Noonday, A White Girl’s African Life. The book depicts Orr’s childhood as the daughter of missionaries in Nigeria in the 1950s and 1960s during that country’s struggle for independence from Great Britain. It also conveys the importance of Nigerian culture as a therapeutic influence later in her life.Gods of Noonday was voted into second place on Book Sense’s Top Ten list of university press titles published in 2003. Orr’s poetry and essays have been published in multiple literary journals. To learn more about the author and her book, visit the Web.

Dr. Richard Bernhard

Another highlight of the luncheon will be the presentation of the 16th annual NCSU Libraries Faculty Award to Dr. Richard H. Bernhard, professor of industrial engineering in the NC State College of Engineering. The award is given to an NC State faculty member who has contributed consistently or notably to the operation and development of the NCSU Libraries.

For ticket information, please call the Friends of the Library at 919/515-2841, Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information on the Fall Luncheon, visit the Friends’ Web site at www.lib.ncsu.edu/friends/.

The NCSU Libraries, with more than 3.2 million volumes, over 51,000 print and electronic serials, and hundreds of databases, offers leading-edge resources and services from its central library, the D.H. Hill Library, and four branch libraries. For full information about the NCSU Libraries visit the Web.

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