Ohio University Wired for Books Web Site Wins Harvard Recognition

Contact: Media Specialist Jess Goode, (740) 593-1886 or goode@ohio.edu

ATHENS, Ohio (July 3, 2001) -- Harvard University's Lamont Library has singled out Ohio University's acclaimed Wired for Books Web site -- www.wiredforbooks.org -- as one of its "Great Links for Literature and Criticism."

"I'm happy and honored that the Lamont Library of Harvard University has chosen Wired for Books as one of seven 'great sites' for literature and literary criticism," said Wired for Books director David Kurz. "We have been fortunate to benefit from the many generous contributions of novelists, poets, essayists, lecturers, actors and interviewers. Our web team will be hard at work in the coming months to make our site even better."

Now in its fourth year, Wired for Books contains hours of author interviews and readings. With more than 70 audio files in its archives, the site has become a major stopping point for online literature aficionados. It receives hundreds of thousands of hits per year, with visitors as far away as Japan and Guatemala.

"This acclaimed site, created and maintained at Ohio University's Telecommunications Center, attempts to 'bring literature alive' through audio, video and texts," reads Harvard's citation. "It contains published stories, plays, poems by both canonical and modern writers, scholarly essays, author interviews, and public discussions with critics and authors. At this site, you can watch an interview with Robert Pinsky, listen to Isaac Asimov and Allen Ginsberg and Barbara Kingsolver speak about their craft, hear Terry Anderson read poems written during his years as a hostage in Lebanon, and much, much more."

Wired for Books also has won recognition from a variety of media and Internet outlets, including "Smart Computing," "The Chronicle of Higher Education," "The Seattle Times," Yahoo online and PBS online.