'Glass Castle' author speaks at GVSU

Author Jeannette Walls will visit Grand Valley to discuss her memoir, The Glass Castle , which is the title selected as Grand Valley’s 2008 Community Reading Project.

Walls will speak on March 19 from 4-5:30 p.m. in 250 Kirkhof Center. The lecture will also be simulcast in the Loosemore Auditorium in the DeVos Center.

Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. In the beginning, they lived like nomads, moving among Southwest desert towns, camping in the mountains. The family settled in Welch, West Virginia when she was 10. As the dysfunction of the family escalated, Jeannette and her brother and sisters had to fend for themselves, supporting one another as they weathered their parents' betrayals and, finally, found the resources and will to leave home. She graduated from Columbia University's Barnard College with honors and went on to become a reporter for New York magazine, Esquire , USA Today and MSNBC.com, where she currently works. She has appeared regularly on television, including the Today Show , CNN and Prime Time Live .

The Glass Castle was a New York Times bestseller and is being turned into a movie by Paramount. The memoir is story of triumph against all odds, and also a tender, moving tale of unconditional love in a family that despite its profound flaws gave her the fiery determination to carve out a successful life on her own terms.

The intent of Community Reading Project is to promote diversity, inclusion, insight and understanding through dialogue and events surrounding relevant themes in the book. For more information, visit www.gvsu.edu/cois/crp .