Loren Glass, professor in the University of Iowa Department of English, will read from his new book, Counterculture Colophon: Grove Press, the Evergreen Review, and the Incorporation of the Avant-Garde, at 7 p.m. Thursday, May 9, in a free reading at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City. The reading also will be streamed live on the University of Iowa Writing University website.

Responsible for such landmark publications as Lady Chatterley's Lover, Tropic of Cancer, Naked Lunch, Waiting for Godot, The Wretched of the Earth, and The Autobiography of Malcolm X, Grove Press was the most innovative publisher of the postwar era. Counterculture Colophon tells the story of how the press and its house journal, The Evergreen Review, revolutionized the publishing industry and radicalized the reading habits of the "paperback generation." This book is the first comprehensive history of the groundbreaking publisher responsible for the end of obscenity and the assimilation of the avant-garde into the American mainstream.

Glass’ previous works include Authors Inc.: Literary Celebrity in the Modern United States, 1880-1980. His recent scholarship engages the emergent fields of book studies and the new sociology of literature.

The Department of English is part of the UI College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

For more information or special accommodations to attend this reading, call Jan Weissmiller at Prairie Lights, 319-337-2681. For a UI arts calendar and details about upcoming events visit the new Arts Iowa website.