Best-selling author of Under the Tuscan Sun, Frances Mayes, will speak on Tuesday, March 8, at 8:00 p.m., at Garrison Theater at the Scripps College Performing Arts Center. This lecture is free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis. A pre-lecture reception and book signing at 5:30 p.m. and dinner at 6:30 p.m. in the Hampton Room of the Malott Commons are also available for $25 per person. Please call the Malott Commons Office at (909) 607-9372 for reservations and information. Deadline for dinner reservations is Thursday, March 3, by 5 p.m.
Mayes describes herself as “a writer who identifies with a sense of place,” which is apparent in her many books. Her home in Cortona, Italy, provided inspiration for her New York Times best seller, Under the Tuscan Sun. The film version of the book, starring Diane Lane, was released in fall 2003. She relates her experiences of living in Italy, the pleasures of food and the “voluptuousness of Italian life” in a variety of her books including her memoir, Bella Tuscany; the photo-text collaboration, In Tuscany; and her latest book, Bringing Tuscany Home: Sensuous Style from the Heart of Italy.
An experienced travel writer, published poet, and essayist, Mayes has written five books of poetry and a new five volume set of her poetry and travel essays, A Year in the World, will be published in spring 2006. Her works have also been published in Poetry, The Atlantic Monthly, New England Review, Iowa Review, The American Scholar, The Gettysburg Review, Ploughshares, The Southern Review, and The Virginia Quarterly.
Before turning to writing full-time, Mayes taught creative writing and directed The Poetry Center at San Francisco State University for twenty-three years.
The Alexa Fullerton Hampton Speaker Series is made possible through the generous bequest of Alexa Fullerton Hampton, Scripps class of 1942.