Local author Vince Vawter will be at UT on Monday, January 27, to talk about his book Paperboy, which has received praise from Publisher’s Weekly and the Stuttering Foundation of America, among others.
The event, at 7:00 p.m. in the College of Communication and Information’s auditorium, is sponsored by UT’s Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature. It is free and open to the public.
Paperboy, set in 1959 Memphis, Tennessee, is about an eleven-year-old boy whose severe stutter causes complications when he takes over his friend’s paper route for part of summer. The boy’s time delivering papers changes his character and his outlook as he develops relationships with his neighbors, gains a sense of self, and witnesses a crime that puts him and his loved ones in danger.
Although it is intended for a younger audience, Vawter believes Paperboy can be enjoyed by all ages.
Vawter, a native of Memphis who now lives in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, retired after working in newspapers for forty years. During his career he served as the president and publisher of the Evansville, Indiana, Courier & Press, president of the board of directors of the Hoosier State Press Association, managing editor of the Knoxville News Sentinel and news editor of the Memphis Press-Scimitar.
Copies of Paperboy can be purchased at the event, and Vawter will be available for book signing following the lecture.
The Center for Children’s and Young Adult Literature is part of UT’s School of Information Sciences. It promotes literature as essential to the literacy, learning, social, emotional, and aesthetic development of young people.
For more information about the CCYAL, visit the website.
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C O N T A C T :
Miranda Clark (865-974-2305, mclark22@utk.edu)
Amy Blakely (865-974-5034, ablakely@utk.edu)