NPR's John Hockenberry to visit Grand Rapids

Award-winning journalist and National Public Radio host John Hockenberry be in Grand Rapids to give two lectures as part of the Duncan Littlefair Great Speakers Series. Hockenberry is a graduate of East Grand Rapids High School.

The lectures are being hosted by Grand Valley State University’s Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies.

The first lecture, “Voter’s Volatility and Remorse: The Democratic Impulse to Change Directions After a Wave of Change” will take place Saturday, November 6, at 1:30 p.m. at the Gerald R. Ford Museum, 303 Pearl St., Grand Rapids. It is free and open to the public.

The second lecture, “Voices of the Millennium: Permission to Speak for Our Age? Of Sophocles, Eminem, and Lady Gaga” will be held Sunday, November 7, at 2 p.m. at Fountain Street Church in Grand Rapids. Tickets are $10.

John Hockenberry is the host of NPR’s The Takeaway. He returned to his roots in public radio, where he was one of the medium’s original innovators after 15 years in network and cable television. During his time at ABC and NBC, he earned four Emmy Awards, three Peabody Awards, an Edward R. Murrow Award, and a Casey Medal. Hockenberry has also been recognized for his pioneering online content, hosts the award-winning public radio series The DNA Files, is a weekly commentator for the series The Infinite Mind and currently sits as a Distinguished Fellow at the prestigious MIT Media Lab.

For more information, contact the Hauenstein Center for Presidential Studies, at (616) 331-2770 or visit www.allpresidents.org.