Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series: Rabih Alameddine

Rabih Alameddine comes to Shelton Auditorium on Thursday, March 4, 2027, as part of the Vivian S. Delbrook Visiting Writers Series. He's a National Book Award winner, and the evening will be a public reading followed by a Q&A session.

Alameddine's path to writing is a long one. Born in Amman, Jordan, he grew up in Lebanon and Kuwait, lived in England, and then moved to the United States. He earned an engineering degree from UCLA and an MBA in San Francisco before turning to painting and novels. These days he divides his time between Beirut and San Francisco.

He's joining a series that's been bringing writers to Indianapolis for nearly 40 years. The roster of past visitors reads like a who's who of 20th-century literature: Toni Morrison, Billy Collins, Kurt Vonnegut, Gwendolyn Brooks, Margaret Atwood, Allen Ginsberg, Sharon Olds, Amy Tan, and Colson Whitehead. Beyond the public reading, visiting writers sit in on Butler's English classes and MFA program and dine privately with students and faculty, who then formally introduce them at the public event. The series is coordinated by the Department of English and supported by the Vivian S. Delbrook Fund and the NEH Ayres Fund, running 10 to 12 events each year.

The reading is at 7:30 PM at Shelton Auditorium on the Butler University campus. It's free and open to the public, and no ticket is required.