Leamington-born author Nino Ricci will reflect on the role of his local roots in his formation as a person and as a writer in a free public presentation entitled “How Essex County Made Me,” Thursday, October 9, at 7 p.m. in Vanier Hall’s Katzman Lounge.

Ricci won the Governor General’s Award for Fiction for his best-selling novels Lives of the Saints and The Origin of Species. His most recent book is a biography of late prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, part of Penguin’s Extraordinary Canadians series.

He has served as a writer-in-residence for the University of Windsor and as the Chair in Religion and the Arts at Assumption University. In 2006, Ricci received the inaugural Alistair MacLeod Award for Literary Achievement from the Windsor Endowment for the Arts.

The Humanities Research Group is presenting his appearance as part of its Distinguished Speakers Series.

Ricci will also lead a seminar for faculty and students, “A Plea for the Humanities,” in Katzman Lounge at 10 a.m. Friday, October 10.

“As universities continue to claw back on their humanities offerings, we run the risk of producing citizens who lack the well-rounded cultural awareness required to truly make sense of our increasingly complicated world,” he says, calling for recognition of “the special knowledge accessible through the arts.”

To register for the seminar, phone 519-253-3000, ext. 3508.