Author Galeano coming to UW for Havens Center honor

Uruguayan author Eduardo Galeano will receive the University of Wisconsin–Madison A. E. Havens Center‘s Award for Lifetime Contribution to Critical Scholarship on May 9 during a rare trip to the United States.

As part of the ceremony, Galeano will read from his latest work, “Children of the Days: A Calendar of Human History.” The book is presented in prose-poetry vignettes, with each page inspired by a story related to that date from the calendar. Galeano commemorates heroes and heroines throughout the world, both well-known and obscure, through tales of the triumph and tribulations of radicals, misfits, social movements, workers and slaves.

The recipient of numerous international awards, Galeano’s fan base includes Margaret Atwood, Isabel Allende, Danny Glover, and the late Howard Zinn, Studs Terkel, and Hugo Chavez — who famously gifted a copy of Galeano’s “Open Veins of Latin America” to President Barack Obama in April 2009.

The event will take place at 7 p.m. in room 3650 of the George Mosse Humanities Building at 455 N. Park St. on the UW campus. It is free and open to the public.