June 15, 2011, Greencastle, Ind. — "The American Library Association's national convention will be in New
Orleans on June 23-28 and many top authors will be in town," reports the Advertiser of Lafayette, Louisiana. Among the visitors, according to the piece, will be Richard Peck, the award-winning writer of books for young people and 1956 graduate of DePauw University. Peck will sign copies of his book Three Quarters Dead from 1-2 p.m. on June 26 at the New Orleans Public Library. He'll also make several appearances at the convention.
Read more at the newspaper's website. Also available is online information on the ALA convention.
A former school teacher, Peck published his debut novel in 1972. He has been called "America's best living author for young adults" and was the first children's book author to receive a National Humanities Medal. Are You In The House Alone? won the 1978 Edgar Allan Poe Award. He received the Newbery Gold Medal in 2001 for A Year Down Yonder. A Long Way From Chicago was a National Book Award finalist as was his Civil War novel, The River Between Us. USA Today calls Three Quarters Dead, Peck's latest work, "provocative and entertaining."
All told, Peck -- who returned to campus last weekend for his 55th class reunion (and presented a lecture, seen in the photos accompanying this article) -- has authored 39 novels.
After winning the Newbery Medal, Peck told DePauw.edu that the University 
[Download Audio: "Peck on DePauw" 603KB]
"made a writer out of me. It warned me never to show my rough draft to
anybody. That helps. I write each of my books six times because I have
to, and it's the sixth version my editor sees and nothing before that. I
learned that from DePauw professors."