Bradbury Expert Sam Weller To Speak At Local Libraries
Posted
Staff Report-
As a part of The Big Read, Ray Bradbury biographer Sam Weller will be lecturing at the Warsaw Public Library at 4 p.m. April 15 and at the North Webster Public Library at 6:30 p.m. April 16. Weller will explore the life and literary works of Ray Bradbury, according to a press release from the Kosciusko Literacy Services. The lectures are free and open to the public. While writing a story for the Chicago Tribune Magazine, Weller met Bradbury and subsequently interviewed him, his editors, family members and friends. With access to Bradbury’s private archives, Weller uncovered unpublished letters, documents and photographs that weave the story of Bradbury’s literary genius and creative style. Weller is an authorized biographer of Bradbury. Weller’s book, “The Bradbury Chronicles: The Life of Ray Bradbury,” was a Los Angeles Times bestseller, winner of the 2005 Society of Midland Authors Award for Best Biography, and a Bram Stoker Award finalist. Weller wrote the companion book, “Listen to the Echoes: The Ray Bradbury Interviews,” which was published in 2010. Weller co-edited the anthology “Shadow Show: All-New Stories in Celebration of Ray Bradbury,” which won the Bram Stoker Award for “Superior Achievement in Anthology.” A former correspondent for Publishers Weekly magazine, Weller also has written for the Paris Review, the National Public Radio Program All Things Considered and Slate magazine. His short fiction has appeared in numerous books and journals. Weller is currently the associate chair and an associate professor in the Department of Creative Writing at Columbia College Chicago. As a child, Bradbury was a fan of magicians and an insatiable reader of adventure and fantasy fiction, according to the press release. Bradbury especially enjoyed the writings of L. Frank Baum, Jules Verne and Edgar Rice Burroughs. While participating in his high school's drama club, Bradbury met Hollywood celebrities. In addition, Bradbury would hand his scripts to celebrities as they left the Brown Derby restaurant. This resulted in his first official pay as a writer for contributing a joke to the Burns & Allen Show. Graduating in 1938, Bradbury could not afford to go to college. Instead, he read all the books from the local library. Bradbury claimed to have graduated from the library. “Libraries raised me. I believe in libraries because most students don't have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression, and we had no money. I couldn't go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years,” Bradbury is quoted as saying in the press release. Bradbury's best-known work, “Fahrenheit 451,” published during the era of McCarthyism, was destined to become a classic due to the trajectories of censorship, conformity and intellectualism versus entertainment, the release states. Bradbury projected the trends of the 1950s into a futuristic society and presented a culture where these movements led to dire consequences. Bradbury is quoted as saying, “You don’t have to burn books to destroy a culture. Just get people to stop reading them.” Kosciusko Literacy Services invites the community to read The Big Read’s “Fahrenheit 451” and join book discussions and special events. Free copies of the book are available at the six public libraries and at other locations. Additional activities, such as contests, movie screenings at local libraries and book discussions, are scheduled. Details are available at www.kcread.org The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with Arts Midwest. Additional sponsors are the TCU Foundation and Indiana Humanities.
