NEWS RELEASE

Contact: David West (west@nsula.edu )
News Bureau
Northwestern State University
Natchitoches, LA 71497
(318) 357-6466

6/17/2004

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NATCHITOCHES- Journalist and author Ken Wells will have a book signing on Thursday, June 24 from 5 p.m. until 6:15 p.m. at PJ's Coffee Shop on College Ave. in Natchitoches. The book signing is sponsored by the Northwestern State University Writing Project, PJ's Coffee Shop and Campus Corner.

Wells is currently the editor of the Wall Street Journal's book-publishing division. He is the author of three novels of Cajun Louisiana, known collectively as the Catahoula Bayou Trilogy. His first non-fiction book called "Travels with Barley: a Journey through Beer Culture in America" will be published by Simon and Schuster.

Before authoring his novels, Wells ran a team of reporters who wrote exclusively for the paper's front page on issues including race, immigration and the environment. Two of his reporters won Pulitzer Prizes, including the 1999 Pulitzer for feature writing. Wells' own work has appeared in Harper's, Reader's Digest, and the Oxford American.

Wells will give a public reading from his works later that evening on the second floor of Lee H. Nelson Hall (the National Center for Preservation Technology and Training) at 645 College Ave. in Natchitoches. The public reading begins with cocktails at 6:30 p.m., dinner at 7:30 p.m. and the reading at 8:30 p.m. The cost is $15. Tickets to the reading only are $5.

He will speak at the summer Newsmakers and Shakers open forum June 25 at 11 a.m. in the Ora G. Williams Studio (Room 142) of Kyser Hall. His topic is "Sloppy, Dishonest, Spun Journalism: the Crack Epidemic of Our Trade."

His visit is sponsored by the Northwestern State University Writing Project and the NSU Department of Journalism.

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