‘Endangered Alphabets’ topic of next lecture
The next speaker in its 2014-15 Distinguished Lecturer Series at the University of Maine at Presque Isle will be Tim Brookes, the founder of the Endangered Alphabets Project and award-winning author of 14 books.
Photo courtesy of UMPI
Tim Brookes, the founder of the Endangered Alphabets Project and award-winning author of 14 books, will be the next Distinguished Lecturer at UMPI on March 19. He will discuss how his works of art depict the alphabets of the world.
Brookes, who will speak on Thursday, March 19, at 7 p.m., at Wieden Hall, will discuss how he has incorporated his artistic skills as a writer, painter and wood carver into “saving” alphabets on the verge of extinction by carving them into wood. Some of Brookes’ Endangered Alphabets artwork, which has been displayed across the country and around the world, will be on display during his talk.
Born in England, Brookes received his education at Oxford and now lives in Burlington, Vt. He is the award-winning author of 14 books including “Endangered Alphabets,” and a 20-year commentator for National Public Radio. Brookes is also a humorist, a professional guitarist and a soccer coach. He draws on this remarkable breadth of reference to be what several college faculty and administrators have described as “the most interesting speaker we have ever hosted.”
Brookes has visited libraries, galleries and campuses all over Europe and the United States, showing and discussing the Alphabet carvings and running as many as five talks and workshops in a day. Faculty members from Yale University invited Brookes to use his Alphabets in a course on the history of writing entitled, “From Pictograph to Pixl.” Several schools, including Western Wyoming College, have asked Brookes to visit creative writing classes and talk about the Alphabets project and how it has led him to explore new and creative forms of non-fiction writing. Brookes will deliver two workshops to UMPI students during his visit. This talk is free and open to the public. FMI, call UMPI’s Community and Media Relations Office, 768-9452, email info@umpi.edu, or visit http://timbrookesinc.com/endangeredalphabets/.
