NEWS RELEASE

12/9/02

CONTACT: Lisa Trei, News Service: (650) 725-0224, lisatrei@stanford.edu

Former Lithuanian president to visit campus next month

Vytautis Landsbergis, former president of Lithuania, and Tomas Venclova, a leading Lithuanian writer, will visit Stanford next month to deliver several lectures that are free and open to the public.

Venclova, professor of Slavic languages and literatures at Yale University, will talk about "Vilnius/Wilna/Vilna: The Myth of Division, The Myth of Connection" at 4 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 8, in Building 160, Room 318. At 5 p.m. on Jan. 9, he will lecture on "Lithuanian Verse and Polish and Russian Poetry Traditions" in Building 260, Room 252.

Landsbergis, a member of parliament in Lithuania, will discuss "Lithuania in Europe Today" at 4 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 14, in Building 200, Room 305. At 6 p.m. on Jan. 16, Landsbergis and his wife, pianist Grazina Landsbergiene, will present a lecture and recital on "Mikalojus Ciurlionis, Painter and Composer: A Precursor to European Modernism" in Campbell Recital Hall in Braun Music Center.

The lectures are presented in conjunction with the university's Lithuania Series and the Poetry and Poetology Workshop of the Division of Literatures, Cultures and Languages. They are co-sponsored by the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, the Music and Art departments, the Institute for International Studies and the Hoover Institution.

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