11 APSU, Middle College students named Peay Read essay winners
October 3, 2011
Clarksville, TN – Ten Austin Peay State University first-year students and a Middle College student were recognized for having best student essays on themes from “The Soloist,” a nonfiction book by Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez and the basis for the movie, “The Soloist.”
The students were lauded for their winning entries during a dinner held September 29th at APSU that featured Lopez, who later that evening delivered a public talk to approximately 1,000 people in the APSU Dunn Center.
Steve Lopez (back row, far left) is seen with APSU and Middle College student essay winners during a dinner September 29th in the Morgan University Center as part of The Peay Read annual celebration. (Photo by Beth Liggett, APSU photographer)
L.A. Times columnist, author of ‘The Soloist’ to speak September 29th in APSU Dunn Center
September 10, 2011
Clarksville, TN – In 2005, Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez strikes an unlikely friendship with Nathaniel Ayers, a homeless musician with schizophrenia who slept each night on one of skid row’s most dangerous streets.
Lopez learned Ayers had been a promising violinist, and that he had left the prestigious music program at the Juilliard School because of his struggle with mental illness. The journalist chronicled Ayers’ struggle in several columns at the Los Angeles Times, inspiring readers to send instruments to Ayers through Lopez. [Read more]
J.R. “Model T” Tate launches APSU’s “2009 Peay Read”
January 18, 2009
A man who has written extensively about the Appalachian Trail – and hiked the trail’s entire 2,175 miles four times – will be at Austin Peay State University to speak on his experiences and help kick off the Spring 2009 book series of The Peay Read.
J.R. Tate, a retired Marine Corps officer who completed Appalachian Trail thru-hikes in 1990, 1994, 1998 and 2006, will speak at 4 p.m., Thursday, Jan. 22 and at noon, Friday, Jan. 23. Both sessions, free and open to the public, will be in the Morgan University Center, Room 308.
He will be on hand to announce “A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail” by Bill Bryson. Bryson tells of his encounters while hiking the trail. [Read more]
