FOCL Press Releases
February 25, 2009 – FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friends of the Central Library
Announce 2009-2010 Season
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Syracuse, NY – The Friends of the Central Library announced the 2009-2010 Season of the Rosamond Gifford Lecture Series at the beginning of last night’s Sarah Vowell lecture. “It was exciting to hear the gasps and cheers in the crowd as the announcement was being made” said Denise Headd, FOCL Program Director. “Folks kept telling me the series keeps getting better and better.”
Khaled Hosseini will be opening the season on October 6, followed by Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks, author Pete Hamill, Pulitzer Prize winner Richard Russo, author Sara Gruen, and CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who ends the season on May 18. Proceeds of the Gifford Lecture Series are used to fund programs and purchase books for the Central Library in downtown Syracuse.
Khaled Hosseini was born in Afghanistan. After being granted political asylum to the United States in 1980, he and his family moved to San Jose, CA. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Biology in 1988 from Santa Clara University, and a Medical Degree from the University of California – San Diego’s School of Medicine. He completed his residency at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in LA, and was a practicing internist between 1996 and 2004, when he began writing his first novel, The Kite Runner. The book became an international best seller and was published in 48 countries. A Thousand Splendid Suns followed, and again Hosseini’s second book was wildly popular. He is the first author in the 2009-2010 line up of the Rosamond Gifford Lecture Series. He will appear at the Civic Center on 
Tuesday, October 6, 2009.
Pulitzer Prize winner Geraldine Brooks grew up in the suburbs of Sydney Australia, and worked as a reporter and feature writer. After winning a scholarship to the journalism Masters Program at Columbia University, she moved to NYC where she worked for the Wall Street Journal covering the crisis in the Middle East. She is the author of People of the Book, March, and The Years of Wonder. She will appear at the Civic Center on Tuesday, November 10, 2009.
Pete Hamill is a novelist, essayist, and journalist. He was born in Brooklyn, NY to a family of Irish Catholic immigrants from Belfast, Northern Ireland. At the age of 16 he began working as a sheet metal worker, and then went on to the United States Navy, where he completed his high school education. He attended Mexico City College where he studied painting and writing and later went to Pratt Institute. In 1960 he went to work as a reporter for the New York Post and this followed a long career in journalism. He has written two short stories and nine novels including Snow in August, Forever, North River, News is a Verb, and Why Sinatra Matters. He will appear at the Civic Center on Tuesday, December 8, 2009.
The fourth author in the series, Richard Russo, is a fellow Upstate New Yorker. He received his BA in English at the University of Arizona along with his Ph.D. in American Lit in 1980. He also earned a master of fine arts degree in creative writing in 1981. In addition to being a novelist he was a former fiction instructor and professor of creative writing. He writes about blue collar life and “Main Street USA.” He is the author of Empire Falls, Straight Man, and Nobody’s Fool. He will appear at the Civic Center on Tuesday, March 16, 2009.
Sara Gruen is a Canadian born dual citizen who moved to the States in 1999 to pursue a job in technical writing. She was laid off within two years time and decided to try her hand at writing fiction. An avid animal lover she began writing about what she loves most. She lives in Ashville, NC with her husband, three children, two dogs, two cats, three goats, and a horse. She is the author of Riding Lessons, Flying Changes, and Water for Elephants. She will appear at the Civic Center on Tuesday, April 27, 2009.
The final author in the 2009-2010 Rosamond Gifford Lecture Series is CNN legal analyst and author Jeffrey Toobin. Toobin received his Bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard Law School. After completing law school he worked as an Associate Counsel in the office of Independent Counsel, Lawrence E. Walsh. He became an Assistant United States Attorney in Brooklyn, NY and took up his post as a writer for The New Yorker in 1994. After a six-year tenure at ABC News he joined CNN as a legal analyst for the CNN News Group where he now serves as a high-profile senior analyst. He is an expert on politics, media and the law. He is the author of Too Close for Comfort, A Vast Conspiracy, and The Nine. He will appear at the Civic Center on Tuesday, May 18, 2009.
For ticket information contact the OnCenter Box office at 315-435-2121. For questions related to subscriptions or general questions about the lecture series, contact Program Director, Denise Headd at the FOCL office, 315-435-1832.
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Last updated: October 13, 2009