Newsroom

CORVALLIS, Ore. - Oregon State University will host a conversation with Joan Didion biographer and OSU Professor emeritus Tracy Daugherty at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 2, at the CH2M HILL Alumni Center.

Daugherty's latest book, "The Last Love Song," is a biography of American author and journalist Didion. The book, which was published in August by St. Martin's Press, debuted at No. 11 on the New York Times best-seller list for hardcover nonfiction.

"The Last Love Song," is the first printed biography about the reclusive Didion, a narrative that traces her life from her youth in Sacramento to her marriage and partnership with her late husband, writer John Gregory Dunne, and beyond.

Keith Scribner, an author and professor in the School of Writing, Literature and Film in OSU's College of Liberal Arts, will interview Daugherty about his work at the event, which is free and open to the public. Refreshments and a book signing will follow.

Daugherty is a professor emeritus of English and creative writing at OSU, where he helped found the Masters of Fine Arts program in creative writing. He is the author of four novels, five short story collections, a book of personal essays and three literary biographies. "Hiding Man," his biography of Donald Barthelme, was a New York Times and New Yorker notable Book of the Year. 

His first collection of literary essays, "Let Us Build Us a City," will be published by the University of Georgia Press in 2016. He recently completed several new short stories and novellas and has begun research on a new biography.

The event is being presented by the OSU Foundation. The Alumni Center is located at 725 S.W. 26th St., Corvallis.