Author Nick Flynn to speak at Owens Community College to promote literacy

To promote the importance of literacy, Owens Community College will host a public events next Tuesday for nationally-known author Nick Flynn to discuss his personal struggles through life.

The events are open to the public and free.

Presented by the Literacy Committee, Flynn will speak at 11 a.m. in the Center for Fine and Performing Arts Mainstage Theatre on its Perrysburg Township campus on Oregon Road and and at 3 p.m. in the Community Education and Wellness Center Room 111 on its Findlay-area campus on Bright Road.

Flynn’s personal story about his relationship with his father, Jonathan, known as a con man, alcoholic and self-proclaimed poet, has earned critical acclaim, both as a book and film titled “Being Flynn”.

The book and film detail how Jonathan disappears from Flynn’s life for the better part of 20 years and suddenly reappears at a homeless shelter in Boston where Flynn is employed. Flynn struggles with the new father-son relationship, which is compounded by Jonathan’s reputation as a con man and alcoholic.

In addition to his career as a writer, Flynn is a playwright and a poet. His most recent play is titled “Alice Invents a Little Game and Alice Always Wins”. Flynn authored the book “The Ticking is The Bomb” and three books of poetry “Blind Huber”, “The Captain Asks for a Show of Hands” and “Some Ether,” which won the inaugural PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award for Poetry in 1999.

His accomplishments include being awarded fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Library of Congress, the Amy Lowell Trust and the Fine Arts Work Center. Some of the venues his poems, essays and non-fiction work have appeared include The New Yorker, Paris Review, and National Public Radio’s “This American Life” show.

Additionally, Flynn has worked as a “field poet” and an artistic collaborator on the documentary film “Darwin’s Nightmare,” which won an Academy Award in 2006. He also teaches at the University of Houston.

For more information about the lecture, call 567-661-2987 or 1-800-GO-OWENS, Ext. 2987.