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]
