Contrary to conventional wisdom, “This is a very, very good time for readers and for reading,” author Anna Quindlen told a Bryan Series audience April 14.
In her talk, “Choices and Changes,” Quindlen spoke of her life-long love of reading and its importance in shaping her life, calling it “the ultimate democratic act of a democratic country ... It is the thing that gives us global opportunities and global thought, even if we stay in one place.”
“To my mind, in a democracy it’s more of a threat to cut library budgets than defense budgets,” Quindlen said to applause.
Quindlen, a novelist who also writes a regular column for Newsweek, also talked about the news industry, particularly the radical changes facing print journalism. She addressed previous shifts in news methods, such as the addition of analysis and first-person journalism. “I came in at a moment of great change and, well, it’s another moment of great change … Somehow we prevailed then, and we will prevail now,” she said.
Quindlen’s talk was the last of the 2008-09 series, which also featured authors Khaled Hosseini and Salman Rushdie, journalist Christiane Amanpour and former diplomat James Rubin.
Following the program, President Kent Chabotar announced the line-up for the 2009-10 series, including Garry Trudeau, Yo-Yo Ma, Paul Krugman, Anna Deavere Smith and David Gregory.
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