The University of Wyoming Library Development Board is bringing Kathy Reichs to Laramie.
On April 10, Reichs, a crime novelist and forensic anthropologist, will be speaking to UW students and the community at the UW College of Education Auditorium at 1:30 p.m. Reichs will primarily talk about her research, why she writes, what appeals to her to make the subject matter interesting and what kind of research goes into books.
“Those talks are generally pretty cool,” Rosanne Latimer, office associate at UW Libraries Administrative office said. “[Actually] not generally pretty good, they are usually excellent.”
The event is free for anyone to attend. Along with this free event, they are also hosting a dinner with Reichs in the evening on April 10 at the Hilton Garden Inn at 6 p.m. to raise funds for Coe library. The dinner costs $90 and one must RSVP for the dinner by April 3.
UW Library Development board brings an author every year during the spring semester. Before they have hosted historical non-fiction writers and fiction writers such as Erik Larson, Timothy Egan, David McCullough and Jeffrey Alfred.
“Kathy Reichs was just someone that we took a chance on and wondered if we’d actually get her because of course she is a forensic anthropologist, which must keep her extremely busy. And the fact that she was the producer for ‘Bones,’ which we hoped people on campus, especially students would go ‘Oh, we watch that show and so we wanna come and see her,’” Latimer said.
According to Kathy Reichs’ website, there are 25 books making up Reichs’ Temperance Brennan series which inspired the TV show “Bones.” Reichs also has co-written a young adult series by the name of “Virals” with her son, Brendan Reichs, which currently consists of nine novels.
“It seems like forensic anthropology on its own is really interesting and to create books that are just fascinating and you want them [the audience] to go away maybe thinking that they could do something a little bit bigger than themselves,” Latimer said.
The event is funded by the McMurry-Spieles Endowment for Library Excellence. The fund is partly specific to Coe Library, established to be able to bring creative writers to campus. The money raised at the dinner also helps cover some of the cost for bringing her to visit UW.
“I am sure a lot of people are excited, people that have actually read her [work],” UW senior Jaide Wacehtel said. “It’s just kinda cool to meet people you have read.”
Alissa Spires, majoring in social work said, “I think it’s good for facilitating discussion. I think it will help students in learning more and to be more open to new ideas and stuff like that.”
