Exhibit honors Bill Gass on his retirement

It's been a busy 10 years. Since its founding in 1990, the International Writers Center (IWC) in Arts & Sciences has brought some of the world's finest authors to St. Louis for public readings and symposia; compiled a comprehensive guidebook on the history of St. Louis letters; released more than 100 issues of the St. Louis Literary Calendar; sponsored contests for local poets of all ages; and, in its spare time, published volumes on such topics as "The Writer and Religion," "The Writer in Politics" and "The Dual Muse: The Writer as Artist, the Artist as Writer."

This month, the College of Arts & Sciences, University Libraries and the Assembly Series will celebrate these accomplishments with "International Writers Center: A Decade," an exhibition of artworks, photographs, books, posters, recordings and other materials drawn from the IWC archives. The exhibition honors renowned novelist and essayist William H. Gass, Ph.D., the David May Distinguished University Professor Emeritus in the Humanities, on his retirement as IWC director.

The show opens Thursday, Oct. 12, and remains on view through Oct. 31 at the IWC's West Campus headquarters. Gallery hours are 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. weekdays.

Highlights include original artworks and illustrations by such internationally recognized artists and writers as Breyten Breytenbach and Tom Phillips. Also on display are photographs by Gass; portraits of visiting authors by St. Louis photographer Michael Eastman; and drawings of St. Louis literary landmarks by alumna Emily Pyle, commissioned for the recently published guidebook "Literary St. Louis."

Additionally, the exhibit will include copies of all IWC publications and a selection of related archival materials as well as audio recordings of readings by Derek Walcott, Mario Vargas Llosa and EilŽan N’ Chuillean‡in, among others.

The exhibition is free and open to the public. For more information, call 935-5576.