Stetson University will feature internationally renowned author Geoff Dyer as the James Turner Butler Creative Lecturer for 2013. This special event, scheduled for 8 p.m., Wednesday, Jan. 23, in Lee Chapel, inside Elizabeth Hall, 421 N. Woodland Blvd., on Stetson’s DeLand campus, is open to the public at no charge. Dyer will read from his selected works and discuss his writing process with the audience. He will also sign books at the end of his presentation.

“Geoff Dyer joins Patricia Engel, Tayari Jones and past JTB guest Jonathan Franzen as the latest writer to visit Stetson,” said Stetson Professor of English Mark Powell. “The university is fast becoming a literary hub in central Florida, attracting writers of national and international acclaim through this and other lectureships.”

Dyer is the author of four novels: Paris Trance, The Search, The Colour of Memory, and, most recently, Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi; two collections of essays, Anglo-English Attitudes and Working the Room; and five genre-defying titles: But Beautiful, The Missing of the Somme, Out of Sheer Rage, Yoga For People Who Can’t Be Bothered To Do It and The Ongoing Moment.

A collection of essays from the last 20 years entitled Otherwise Known as the Human Condition was published in the U.S. in April 2011 and won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism.

His most recent book is Zona, about Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Stalker (published in the UK and the U.S. in Spring 2012).

Dyer was guest director at the Telluride Film Festival (Aug. 29 – Sept. 3, 2012).

Canongate has begun their programme of reissuing Dyer’s entire backlist (with the exception of Ways of Telling). Out of Sheer Rage is available as a Canon; Paris Trance, Yoga and But Beautiful were published in June 2012; The Missing of the Somme, The Ongoing Moment and a revised edition of The Colour of Memory were published in November.

Dyer won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Criticism for Otherwise Known as the Human Condition announced in New York in March 2012.

He has guest edited the Documents section of the Spring / Summer 2012 edition of AnOther Magazine out now, with articles written by Fiona Banner, Anne Carson, David Markson and others, and art by Melinda Gibson.

The New York Times‘ Dwight Garner chose Dyer’s Otherwise Known as the Human Condition as one of his Top 10 Nonfiction Books of 2011. He is quoted as saying: “Mr. Dyer, a shape-shifting British writer, is among the best essayists on the planet, and this book includes some of his finest work.”  Check out this interview with Geoff conducted by American writer Jonathan Lethem for BOMB magazine.

Dyer’s new book Zona: A Book about a Film about a Journey to a Room, was published in February 2012 by Canongate, UK, and in March 2012 by Pantheon, U.S. The book takes the reader through the film Stalker by the great Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, and, like the film itself, confronts the most mysterious and enduring questions of life and how to live.

Stetson University’s James Turner Butler Creative Lectureship was established in 2007, by the late writer David Warner, to honor the legacy of  James Turner Butler, a Stetson alumnus (B.A. 1902; J.D. 1904), and other family members, including James Turner, a member of Stetson’s original Board of Trustees (1885-1904). The goal of the program is to support a campus visit by a creative writer or artist who will interact with students and faculty. The late actor Jill Clayburgh and writer/director/actor Amy Robinson gave the inaugural Butler Creative Lecture in April 2007.  Other Butler lecturers include novelist Jonathan Franzen, poet Billy Collins, composer David Amram and graphic novelist Art Spiegleman.

This lecture is a cultural credit opportunity for Stetson students. For more information about this lecture, contact Stetson English Professor Mark Powell at [email protected], or call (386) 822-7741 or (386) 956-6763.