#1 New York Times Best-Selling Author John Grogan to Speak at Baylor

Media contact: Lori Fogleman, director of media communications, (254) 710-6275

John Grogan, former columnist for The Philadelphia Inquirer and #1 New York Times© bestselling author of Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog, will present the 2008 Ferguson-Clark Author Lecture Nov. 18 at Baylor University. In Marley & Me, Grogan tells the heartfelt story of the life and passing of his dearly loved - but incorrigible - Labrador retriever, Marley.

Grogan's lecture - "Write What Is in Your Heart and Success Will Follow" - will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 18, at Waco Hall on the Baylor campus. The event is a fundraiser for the Baylor University Libraries, with all proceeds benefiting the creation of a 24-hour study area near Java City on the Garden Level of Moody Library.

Patron tickets are available for $50 and include passes to a special reception immediately following the event, where guests can visit with the author and have books signed. Books may be purchased in advance and will be available at the Baylor Bookstore. General admission tickets to the lecture are available for $5. 

Marley & Me was the summer 2008 selection for the "One Book, One Waco" reading program, a communitywide program that promotes reading and thoughtful discussion with activities and events focused on encouraging community participation. In his book, Grogan writes that this lovably ill-behaved dog helped him to learn about what is truly important in life: family, loyalty, patience, constancy, acceptance and commitment.

Marley & Me is scheduled to be released in December 2008 as a major motion picture starring Owen Wilson and Jennifer Anniston.

Grogan has been featured on "Good Morning America," "The Today Show," "The Early Show," National Geographic Channel's "The Dog Whisperer" and in The New York Times, USA TODAY and People magazine.

For more information, contact Mary Landon Darden at Mary_Darden@baylor.edu or at (254) 752-1468.