By Rich Fisher
http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/kwgs/local-kwgs-989798.mp3
Tulsa, OK – On today's ST, we speak with the widely hailed American novelist and essayist Jonathan Franzen (who was born in St. Louis in 1959). Franzen is commonly seen as one of the most important writers at work in America today; his third novel, "The Corrections" (2001), won the National Book Award. His latest novel, "Freedom," first appeared last year to rave reviews (and is newly available in paperback). Franzen will speak at 7:30pm tomorrow night (Thursday the 13th) on the TU campus in a free-to-the-public address at the Lorton Performance Center. His speech, which will focus on the art and craft of writing fiction, is presented as a part of TU's Presidential Lecture Series, which is sponsored by the Darcy O'Brien Endowed Chair. (For more information, please see http://www.utulsa.edu/about-TU/news-events-publications/UniversityEvents/2011/October/Presidential-Lecture-Franzen.aspx.) Also on today's show, our commentator Ian Shoales has a piece on two rather unseemly but omnipresent American subjects: welfare and drugs.