Free lecture & book signing Thursday, November 8, 2012 7:00 p.m. Rock Valley College Student Center Atrium

Daniel Wallace is a storyteller who's been called one of our finest contemporary comic novelists. His tall tales are flush with classic myth, magical realism and always a touch of the extraordinary. He is the author of four novels including Big Fish: A Novel of Mythic Proportions, which was adapted into a blockbuster film of the same name by Tim Burton in 2003 and which is currently being developed into a major Broadway production. 

In a starred review, Publisher's Weekly described Big Fish as "refreshing"and "original" and The New York Times described the bestseller as "comic and poignant." Wallace's fifth novel The Kings and Queens of Roam will be published in 2013. Many of his drawings have graced the occasional greeting card or refrigerator magnet and several make up the children's book O Great Rosenfeld! which he wrote and illustrated. His illustrations have also been published in The Los Angeles Times and Vanity Fair. Recently Wallace has also found success as a screenwriter. His first short film Two Legged Rat Bastards was released in 2011 and played at film festivals across the country.

The astute viewer will recognize Wallace as the actor playing an Auburn University professor in the aforementioned Big Fish film adaptation. He is in fact the J. Ross MacDonald Distinguished Professor of English, and director of the Creative Writing Program, at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. He lives with his wife Laura Kellison Wallace in Chapel Hill. They have one son. 

This lecture is free and open to the public. For further information on the Visiting Writer Series, call Rock Valley College at (815) 921-3323.