Arts and Entertainment

Writers with diverse experiences to speak at Foster-Foreman Conference

Essayist Caitlin Flanagan (left) and award-winning war correspondent Kimberly Dozier will be featured during the Foster-Foreman Conference of Distinguished Writers. Credit: Penn StateCreative Commons

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- Two writers who cover different topics will share their experiences and samples of their work during the two-day Foster-Foreman Conference of Distinguished Writers scheduled March 24-25 on the University Park campus and in State College.

The conference, a series of two free public lectures on consecutive days, features author and essayist Caitlin Flanagan and award-winning war correspondent Kimberly Dozier.

Flanagan will be the featured guest for the opening session a 7 p.m. March 24 in the State Theatre in downtown State College. Flanagan is best known for her provocative essays on social issues for Atlantic Monthly magazine. She is also the author of two books: “Girl Land (2012)” and “To Hell With All That: Loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife” (2006).

Flanagan’s Atlantic Monthly cover story, reporting on deaths and injuries at college fraternity houses and the resulting lawsuits, attracted wide attention in March. Her work has appeared in anthologies and won a National Magazine Award. Before becoming a writer, she taught English and was a college counselor at a California prep school.

Dozier will conclude the conference at 10:10 a.m. March 25 in Freeman Auditorium, located in the HUB-Robeson Center. She covered the war in Iraq until being wounded in a car bombing in 2006. In her memoir, “Breathing the Fire” (2008), Dozier recounts the attack and her journey to recovery. Later she was an intelligence reporter for The Associated Press. She is currently a contributor to Daily Beast and CNN.

In her 17-year career with CBS, Dozier won Peabody, Murrow, Gracie and Sigma Delta Chi awards. She is teaching this year as the General Omar N. Bradley Chair at the Army War College, Penn State Law and Dickinson College. 

After her presentation, Dozier will sign copies of her book, "Breathing the Fire: Fighting to Survive, and Get Back to the Fight." Books will be available for a donation of $18 each to NSWKids.org, which is a charity benefiting children of the Navy Seal community. The donation can be made at the book signing in cash or check made out to the charity. Alternatively, the donation can be made on a smartphone via the charity's website, and upon presentation of the electronic receipt, Dozier will provide the signed book.

The Foster-Foreman Conference is designed to bring together students, and some of the best reporters and writers in journalism. Since its inception in 1999, the conference has attracted 40 Pulitzer Prize winners to campus to share their experience and skills. Ten Penn State graduates have been speakers in the series. The conference is named for Penn State alumni Larry and Ellen foster, whose initial gift made the conference possible, and Gene Foreman, the retired Foster Professor of Communications, who has directed the conference since it began.

Last Updated June 2, 2021