Pulitzer winner Tony Kushner to speak at the UI

IOWA CITY - Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner will give the 2009-10 Distinguished Lecture at the University of Iowa Tuesday, Feb. 2.

The talk, sponsored by the University Lecture Committee and supported by the F. Wendell Miller Fund, begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Lounge of the Iowa Memorial Union. Kelly Johnson, a former member of the Lecture Committee, will interview Kushner on stage. A book sale and signing by Kushner will follow his interview in the Main Lounge, hosted by the University Book Store.

Born in New York City in 1956, and raised in Lake Charles, La., Kushner is known for creating dramas that focus on AIDS, politics and America's gay subculture. He is best known for his two-part epic, "Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes," which received both the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and two Tony Awards.