Joyce Carol Oates to Speak on March 2

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- Lockport native Joyce Carol Oates, one of America's most acclaimed writers, will speak at 8 p.m. March 2 in the Mainstage theater in the Center for the Arts on the University at Buffalo North (Amherst) Campus as part of UB's Distinguished Speakers Series.

Oates is the author of a number of distinguished books in several genres, all published within the past 25 years. In addition to numerous novels and short story collections, she has published several volumes of poetry and books of plays, five books of literary criticism and the book-length essay, "On Boxing."

John Gardner called her "one of the greatest writers of our time." Her writing has earned her much praise and many awards, among them her third Nobel Prize nomination in 1999.

Oates's "vision" often is that of a highly complex America populated with presumably ordinary families who experience common, yet intense, emotions and relationships, and who frequently encounter violence. Her ambition is to create a fictional world that mirrors the ambiguity and felt experience of the real world of her time.

Oates's recent works include "The Tattooed Girl" (2003); "Small Avalanches and Other Stories" (2003), a collection of short stories; "I'll Take You There" (2002); "Big Mouth & Ugly Girl," her first novel for young adults (2002); "Beasts" (2002); "Middle Age: A Romance" (2001); "Faithless: Tales of Transgression" (2001), a short story collection, and "Blonde" (2000).

Oates received a bachelor's degree from Syracuse University and a master's degree from the University of Wisconsin. She is the Roger S. Berlind Distinguished Professor of the Humanities at Princeton University.

Tickets for Joyce Carol Oates range from $18 to $28 and may be purchased at the Center for the Arts ticket office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, or at all Ticketmaster locations.