Maryanne Wolf, director of the Center for Reading and Language Research at Tufts University, has for decades been a leader in her field: child development and especially as it pertains to the acquisition of language and to reading — how as a species we arrived at reading and how as individuals we learn to read and sometimes have difficulty. Those are the major topics Wolf addressed in her book Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, the subtopic: dyslexia.
And so, what better fit could there be between scholar and institution when Maryanne Wolf is guest of the Bodine School, which for more than 40 years has been educating Mid-South students dealing with dyslexia?
[jump]
Wolf won’t be at the school’s Germantown campus, however, when she delivers an upcoming lecture on the reading brain. “The Bodine School Presents an Evening with Dr. Maryanne Wolf” will take place at the Church of the Holy Communion (4645 Walnut Grove Road in Memphis) on Friday, January 24th, at 7 p.m. For more information, go to the Bodine School’s website. For tickets ($15 each), go here. Tickets, according to Jordan Proctor, director of development at the Bodine School, are still available. And she wants it known:
“Bodine School is honored to bring Dr. Wolf to Memphis. Her remarkable work and expertise in reading development will be a great asset in our community’s efforts to improve education and erase illiteracy. As the Mid-South’s leader in dyslexia and reading-related learning disabilities, Bodine School is committed to sharing this invaluable information.”
…
The reading brain? Keep it in mind. Maryanne Wolf does. The Dish did in a recent blog post. Go straight to the source, though, as directed by the Dish: Nick Carr in a fascinating essay posted on Rough Type. The essay appeared in an earlier version in a collection called Stop What You’re Doing and Read This!.
And you should. What’s the brain up to while we read? Find out what scientists are learning but what readers, when they’re deep in reading, have known in a sense all along. •
