Tickets For Ernest Gaines Lecture On Sale Now

Tickets are on sale now for Baylor University's inaugural Ferguson-Clark Author Lecture, featuring Ernest Gaines. One of the most critically-acclaimed African-American authors in the U.S., Gaines will deliver his lecture at 7 p.m. Oct. 17 in Jones Theater in the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center. The event is sponsored by the University Libraries with proceeds benefiting student-centered library projects.
"People need to hear an author such as Ernest Gaines to truly appreciate his work," said John Wilson, associate professor, documents librarian and library development coordinator. "I hope that Baylor, Waco and the surrounding communities embrace and welcome Ernest Gaines in October."
Best known for his books "The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" and "A Lesson Before Dying," Gaines is the author of eight novels, most of which are set in the general area of Louisiana where he was raised. He graduated from San Francisco State College in 1957 and won a post-graduate creative writing fellowship to Stanford. In 1981, Gaines was named visiting professor of creative writing at The University of Louisiana at Lafayette and became Writer-in-Residence in 1983.
Since his "Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman" caught the nation's attention in 1971, Gaines' works have been translated into many languages and made into films. His acclaim increased in 1997 when "A Lesson Before Dying" was named an Oprah Book Club selection. His honors include a National Humanities Medal in 2000, the National Governors Association Award for Lifetime Contribution to the Arts in 2000 and a Southern Book Award for Fiction and a National Book Critics Circle Award, both in 1994. He was named a MacArthur Foundation Fellow in 1993, and in 1996 the government of France designated him Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters.
The Ferguson-Clark Author Series Endowment was established in 2001 by Mr. Collen A. Clark of Tyler in honor of his mother, Carla Sue Ferguson Garrett. Clark received a bachelor's degree from Baylor in 1986 and a juris doctor in 1990. He practices law in Tyler and Dallas.
Tickets for Gaines' lecture are $50 for patrons, $15 general admission and $10 for students and are available at the Baylor Ticket Office.
For more information, call Nancy Pederson, special projects assistant for the dean of libraries, at (254) 710-6675. For ticket information, call the Baylor Ticket Office at (254) 710-3210.