Department of English
207 Lind Hall
207 Church Street SE
Minneapolis, MN 55455

Phone: 612-625-3363

College of Liberal Arts Voices from the Gaps
public lecture

2006 Esther Freier Endowed Speaker T.C. Boyle

"Thanks so much for another wonderful evening! Thanks too for maintaining your mailing list so well, so I get to hear and meet authors from everywhere!"

Lecture attendee

Esther Freier Endowed Lecture in Literature Series

esther freierThe literary legacy that Esther Freier envisioned began in 2001 when celebrated author Jamaica Kincaid inaugurated the Esther Freier Endowed Lecture in Literature Series. A clinical laboratory chemist and professor, Freier had a deep and profound love for literature and the humanities. She wanted to leave a legacy that would benefit the public and inspire emerging authors. In her will, she endowed a lecture series that would bring prize-winning national and international authors to campus to give public lectures, visit with students, conduct workshops, or serve in other short, residential capacities. Freier wished for writers “whose work had made a significant contribution to humanistic inquiry through literature and literary study.”

Esther Freier was born in Hibbing, Minnesota, in 1925. She moved to Minneapolis while still a child and spent her entire academic (B.S. ‘46, M.S. ‘56) and professional career of 45 years at the University of Minnesota. She co-authored the first paper dealing with quality control in clinical chemistry, winning several awards. When she retired in 1991, she held the only endowed professorship in medical technology in the nation. That year, Freier served as the first woman president of the Academy of Clinical and Laboratory Physicians and Scientists and was re-elected the following year.

Esther Freier was a teacher, friend, and mentor to many. The English Department is deeply grateful for her generosity to us, the University, and the community. 

Esther Freier Endowed Lecturers

Feb 5 01 Jamaica Kincaid Toni McNaron introduction
Mar 26 01 W. S. Merwin  Kent Bales introduction
Mar 15 02 Barry Lopez Madelon Sprengnether introduction
Nov 22 02 Edmund White  David Treuer introduction
Feb 9 03 Michael Chabon Thomas Augst introduction
Oct 10 03 Arnold Rampersad John Wright introduction
Apr 1704 A. S. Byatt Gordon Hirsch introduction
Nov 7 04 Rita Dove Michael Dennis Browne introduction
Apr 15 05 Anna Deavere Smith Paula Rabinowitz introduction
Oct 19 05 Philip Levine Michael Dennis Browne introduction
Apr 11 06 T. C. Boyle Julie Schumacher introduction
Nov 3 06 Bharati Mukherjee Charles Sugnet introduction
Apr 11 07 E. L. Doctorow Edward Griffin introduction
Nov 28 07 Paul Muldoon  
Mar 26 08 Suzan-Lori Parks