The Belltower Samford University

Berry's books include the novel Hannah Coulter (2004), the essay collections Citizenship Papers (2005), The Way of Ignorance ( 2006), and Given: Poems (2005). Berry's latest works include The Mad Farmer Poems (2008), Whitefoot (2009), and Traveling at Home (2011), a collection of 15 poems and one essay.

A Kentucky native, Berry is also known as a philosopher, farmer, environmentalist and social activist who lives and works on his farm in Port Royal, Ky.

The distinguished author series, established in 2011, honors the late Thomas Corts, who was president of Samford for 23 years, and his wife, Marla, a former high school English teacher for whom a missionary biography collection in the Samford library is named. Proceeds from the lecture will benefit Samford's Orlean Bullard Beeson School of Education and Professional Studies.

VIP tickets are $125 and include a pre-lecture reception at 6 p.m., reserved seating and a signed copy of Traveling at Home, which was originally published as a limited edition in 1988. The new edition includes woodcuts by John DePol. General admission tickets are $25 and non-Samford student tickets are $10. Samford students may attend free of charge.

Following the lecture, Berry will sign books.

To buy tickets go to www.samford.edu and click on the Wendell Berry hot button, or call (205) 726-2853. Information is also available by emailing Della Fancher at dfancher@samford.edu.