Author and Vietnam veteran Tim O’Brien will be the featured speaker during the College of Charleston’s The College Reads! program on October 2, 2009.  The speech will be held in the Carolina First Arena starting at 5 p.m. The program is free and open to the public.

O’Brien will read from his novel, “The Things They Carried,” share his insights on the Vietnam War and answer questions during the program.

As part of The College Reads! program, freshmen students received a copy of O’Brien’s book during the summer and are discussing it in a series of classes throughout the semester.

“The Things They Carried” was named one of the 20 best books of the lastquarter century by the New York Times and was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.