Wallace Stegner, historian, novelist, essayist, conservationist, and educator, is widely known as the “Dean of Western Writers.” On March 6-7, a distinguished group of elected officials, authors, historians, artists, and others will gather together to explore Stegner’s wide-ranging influence on the centennial of Stegner’s birth in a two-day symposium organized by the Wallace Stegner Center at the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law.
The Stegner Center’s 14thannual Symposium, “Wallace Stegner: His Life and Legacy,” will explore Stegner’s life and his ongoing influence on subsequent generations of writers, historians, and conservationists. Symposium topics include Stegner the man, which will review the biographical details of his life, including his affinity for Salt Lake City, which he claimed as his hometown; Stegner as historian and conservationist, reflecting his vision of the historical West and his environmental ethic; and Stegner the writer, considering his influence on subsequent generations of authors.
Robert Keiter, director of the Center and Distinguished Professor of Law at the S.J. Quinney College of Law, commented: “Wallace Stegner’s imprint on landscape and literature of the American West is enormous, and we’re pleased to celebrate his legacy at this year’s Stegner Center Symposium.”
Keynote speakers include former Interior Secretary Bruce Babbitt and award-winning author Wendell Berry. Berry, who was a Stegner Fellow at Stanford University in 1958-59, is the author of more than 40 books of fiction, nonfiction and poetry. He will conclude the symposium with a reading of his work in honor of Wallace Stegner and in commemoration of the centennial of Stegner’s birth.
“Wallace Stegner: His Life and Legacy” will be held March 6-7 at the University Park Marriott, 480 Wakara Way. Pre-registration is required. For more information call 801-585-3440, or visit www.law.utah.edu/stegner
Principal funding for the symposium was provided by the R. Harold Burton Foundation, Chevron, and the Cultural Vision Fund.