Arts & Culture

The popular Travel Lecture Film Series, brought to campus each year courtesy of the Washington University Alumni Association, returns this season with eight travelogues that cover the world. The films are marked by gorgeous scenery and great storytelling, created by some of the most esteemed artists in the industry.

The program includes several of his most popular chamber works, including “Cello Sonata in D minor, op. 40”; “Piano Quintet in G minor, op. 57”; and two scenes from the opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk District.

Millhauser is the author of 10 novels and story collections, including Martin Dressler, The Tale of an American Dreamer, which won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1997.

William Jay Smith is writing a book about his friendship with classmate Tennessee Williams, the great playwright.

Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction writer Steven Millhauser, the visiting Fannie Hurst Professor of Creative Literature in Washington University’s Writing Program in Arts & Sciences, will read from his work at 8 p.m., Thursday, Oct. 12. In addition, Millhauser will speak on the craft of fiction at 8 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 19.

Courtesy photoWilliam Jay SmithWilliam Jay Smith, a Washington University alumnus and former Poetry Consultant to the Library of Congress (the position now known as the U.S. Poet Laureate), will read from his work at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 17, in Olin Library’s Ginkgo Reading Room. In addition, Smith will speak on “My Friend, Tom: Tennessee Williams in St. Louis” — recounting his time as a classmate of the great playwright and fellow Washington University alumnus — at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 18, in Hurst Lounge, Room 201, Duncker Hall.

Bruce Lindsey, the Paul Rudolph Professor of Architecture at Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., has been named dean of the College of Architecture and Graduate School of Architecture & Urban Design, both part of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts.

David Chipperfield, architect for the proposed Saint Louis Art Museum expansion, and Nigel Tonks, who is leading building services engineering for the project, will both speak as part of the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ fall Architecture Lecture Series.

In October, the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences’ Dance Program will host a weeklong series of public events with Gary Galbraith and Bonnie Oda Homsey, both former principal dancers with the Martha Graham Dance Company.

The New York Times named The Cottagers as an “Editor’s Choice,” praising Klimasewiski’s intricate prose and clever plotting.