ANNOUNCEMENTS > PRESS RELEASES

MIT Alumna Courtney Humphries reads from her new book Oct. 30

Cambridge, MA...According to the old saying, pigeons come home to roost.

MIT alumna Courtney Humphries, who knows a bit about pigeons, will return to MIT to present a reading from her book, "Superdove: How the Pigeon Took Manhattan...and the World," on Thursday, Oct. 30 at 7 p.m. in Room 32-141, located in the Stata Center at 32 Vassar Street.

Humphries, who completed the MIT Graduate Program in Science Writing in 2004, began the work as a response to an assignment in an Advanced Science Writing Seminar. An exploration of the natural and cultural history of pigeons and what they reveal about human nature, the book "achieves its goal of giving meaning to a species you once saw as dirty and dull" according to the New York Observer. The New York Times called Humphries "a wonderful storyteller, with a sly sense of humor and a light touch."

The holder of an Ida Green Fellowship at MIT, Humphries was able to pursue what became "Superdove" immediately upon graduating, says Professor Thomas Levenson, director of the Graduate Program in Science Writing. Levenson also reports that Humphries has "a very cool" next project in the works. "She's not telling me yet, but I'll get it out of her at the talk," he promises.

The reading is sponsored by the Program in Writing and Humanistic Studies Writers Series. For more information, call (617) 253-7894.