BEMIDJI, Minn. (Feb. 9, 2010) — What keeps a reader turning pages? What keeps them reading late into the night trying to finish a story or novel that they just can’t put down?

Dr. Lauren Cobb, associate professor of English, and Maureen Gibbon, assistant professor of English, will discuss the elements of successful fiction on Thursday, Feb. 23, as part of Bemidji State’s Honors Council Lecture Series. Their lecture, “What Makes Fiction Work?” will begin at 7 p.m. in Hagg-Sauer Hall room 112.

In a combination craft lecture and public reading, Cobb and Gibbon will read fiction set in Minnesota and discuss the craft of creating conflict and tension in fiction.

Cobb earned her doctorate in English from the University of Georgia. Her short fiction has appeared in literary journals such as “Arts & Letters,” the “Beloit Fiction Journal” and “The 2007 Robert Olen Butler Prize Stories.”

Gibbon is a graduate of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop. Her upcoming novel, “Thief,” will be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in April. “Thief” will be Gibbon’s second novel.

2010 Spring Honors Council Lecture Series
• Feb. 23: Lauren Cobb, associate professor of English, and Maureen Gibbon, assistant professor of English, “What Makes Fiction Work.”
• March 3: David Lund, professor of philosophy, “Persons, Souls and Death.”
• March 18: Michael Hamann, assistant professor of biology, “Nuts, Bolts and the Cytoskeleton.”
• April 15: Larry Skillin, assistant professor of history, “From Proclamation to Dialogue: The Colonial Press and the Emergence of an American Public Sphere.”

For more information about the Honors Council Lecture Series, please contact the honors program at (218) 755-3984.

FOR YOUR CALENDAR
Feb. 23 – 7 p.m. – Honors Council Lecture Series: Dr. Lauren Cobb, associate professor of English, and Maureen Gibbon, assistant professor of English, present “What Makes Fiction Work?” Location: Hagg-Sauer 119. Admission: free. Information: (218) 755-3984.