11th Annual Speakers & Issues Series Begins September 22

Walt and Isabel Davis' tale of an unusual partnership in Exploring the Edges of Texas will mark the beginning of the 11th Annual Speaker and Issues Series at Midwestern State University. A 1962 archeological excavation report about a triangular trade relationship between French traders, Caddo hunters, and Comanche and Kiowa horsemen linking the southern Great Plains with Europe via the Red River, gave Walt and Isabel the needed inspiration to write the story of the gun, horse, and deer hide trade network and the unusual partnership that brought that story to light 250 years later. Their presentation will begin at 7 p.m. September 22 at the Museum of Art at MSU.

MSU's own James Hoggard, author and distinguished professor, will read from his new novel, The Mayor's Daughter. Hoggard creates a place like Wichita Falls in the mid-1920s where, as a prominent novelist Sarah Bird has said, he gives us "an extraordinarily powerful family drama." The potent forces detailed in The Mayor's Daughter include both lyrical and raw turns in a world where a figure of courage rises in the midst of breath-taking cruelty into a hard-earned sense of justice and hope. Hoggard's presentation will begin at 7 p.m. October 27 at the Museum of Art at MSU.

Singer-songwriter Sam Baker is a contemporary Renaissance man with a fascinating personal history. In 1986, while on a train to Machu Picchu, Baker was nearly killed in a terrorist attack. Baker's injuries resulted in his having to re-learn to speak, as well as change hands while playing the guitar. Of his music, one critic said, "Baker's albums flicker with immediacy, with electricity. They are spare, naked, poetic, downright arresting in their lyrical and musical intimacy." Baker will present An Evening of Music at 7 p.m. November 3 at the Museum of Art at MSU.

The Speakers and Issues Series was established in 2001 to provide the community with opportunities to learn about matters of worldwide importance as well as hear from versed speakers on local and regional issues. Since its inception the series has brought to campus more than 20 guests who have come from all corners of the world of human knowledge.

Admission to all events is free, but donations are welcome. For more information about the series, visit www.msutexas.edu/sis/.