FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Nov. 1, 2000 CONTACT: Lisa Lacher, (515) 271-3119 TWO EVENTS SLATED IN DRAKE WRITERS & CRITICS SERIES Sandra G. Shannon, professor of African-American literature at Howard University, will give a lecture titled "Critical Movements in African-American Drama" at Drake University on Monday, Nov. 6. The lecture, which is free and open to the public as part of the Drake Writers and Critics Series, will start at 8 p.m. in the Honors Lounge of Medbury Hall, 1317 28th St. Shannon will trace the evolution of this movement in American drama from the minstrel tradition to the opposing schools of thought promoted by Alain Locke and W.E.B. DuBois to the more contemporary Afrocentric thrust advocated by Amiri Baraka and Ntozake Shange. Shannon is a leading authority of the works of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson. Among her extensive publications on Wilson is her critically acclaimed book, "The Dramatic Vision of August Wilson." Her other publications include essays in Black Theater Network Journal and African American Review as well as chapters in books such as "Memory and Cultural Politics: New Approaches to American Ethnic Literature." The Drake Writers and Critics Series will continue on Thursday, Nov. 9, when fiction writer and O. Henry Award-winner Thomas Glave will read from his new book, "Whose Song? and Other Stories." The reading, which is free and open to the public, will start at 7:30 p.m. in the Honors Lounge of Medbury Hall. Glave's new book is scheduled for release this month from City Lights Books. His short stories have appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies, among them "Best American Gay Fiction 3," "Children of the Night: The Best Short Stories by Black Writers 1967 - Present," and "Prize Stories 1997: The O. Henry Awards." Glave is the recipient of two New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships and a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. He is an assistant professor of English at the State University of New York, Binghamton. Drake's Writers and Critics Series is sponsored by the English Department and the Drake Center for the Humanities. For more information, call (515) 271-2835.