News Release — November 2, 2006

Harry Ransom Center hosts conversation with author Norman Mailer

EVENT: The Harry Ransom Center hosts a conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Norman Mailer, featuring Mailer, writer Gay Talese and writer, producer, director Lawrence Schiller, a frequent Mailer collaborator. Steven Isenberg, visiting professor of humanities at The University of Texas at Austin, will moderate the event.

WHEN: 3:30 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 11.

WHERE: "A Conversation with Norman Mailer" will be held at the university's Jessen Auditorium in Homer Rainey Hall.

BACKGROUND: Author of more than 40 books, Mailer is one of the most controversial yet widely regarded writers of the 20th century. His writings have focused on many of the crucial cultural issues that faced America from the 1960s to the present, including women's rights and capital punishment. His notable works include "The Naked and the Dead" (1948), "Advertisements for Myself" (1959), "The Armies of the Night" (1968), "The Executioner's Song" (1979) and "The Spooky Art" (2003). Mailer's forthcoming novel, "The Castle in the Forest," will be released in January 2007.

The event is part of the Ransom Center's concurrent Flair symposium "The Sense of Our Time: Norman Mailer and America in Conflict," scheduled for Nov. 9-11. The events will be held in conjunction with the exhibition "Norman Mailer Takes On America," which highlights the Ransom Center's recent acquisition of the Mailer archive. The exhibition runs through Dec. 31.

ADMISSION: The event is free with seating on a first come, first served basis. Doors open at 3 p.m.