For further MBL News and Media Information, contact the MBL Communications Office at (508) 289-7423 or e-mail us at comm@mbl.edu .

October 11, 2006

Book Signing to Follow Lecture

MBL, WOODS HOLE, MA—Jay Allison, award-winning independent radio producer, founder of the public radio stations, WCAI and WNAN, and co-editor of the recently-published book, This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women will talk about “citizen storytelling” and public participation in public media in a lecture titled “’This I Believe’ and the Power of Shared Story’” on Friday, November 17 at 7:30 p.m. in the MBL’s (Marine Biological Laboratory’s) Lillie Auditorium, 7 MBL Street, Woods Hole. The lecture, presented by the MBL Associates, is part of the MBL’s 2006-2007 Falmouth Forum season. The event is sponsored by the Bank of America Charitable Foundation and is free and open to the public.

Allison is lifelong journalist and producer for public radio and television. National Public Radio listeners know him as the curator of the series “This I Believe” on “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition,” as well as the series, “Lost & Found Sound,” “Hidden Kitchens,” and the post-9/11 “Sonic Memorial Project.” Much of his work is dedicated to the notion that the airwaves belong to all of us, and if we want them to reflect our lives, we need to speak up. Allison’s Falmouth Forum talk will draw on his experience with national series he has curated like “Lost & Found Sound” and “This I Believe.”

With Allison’s non-profit organization, Atlantic Public Media, he is the founder WCAI and WNAN, the public radio stations for Cape Cod, Martha's Vineyard, and Nantucket, as well as two acclaimed websites encouraging citizen involvement in public broadcasting, Transom.org and the Public Radio Exchange (prx.org). As an independent documentary maker, Allison has won most of the major broadcasting awards, including five Peabodys and The Corporation for Public Broadcasting’s Edward R. Murrow Award, the industry's highest honor.

Allison has shot, reported, and produced special documentaries for ABC News Nightline and has written for the New York Times Magazine. He is the editor (with Dan Gediman, John Gregory, and Viki Merrick) of the recently-published book, This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, which contains 60 essays from his NPR series, plus 20 essays from Edward R. Murrow's original 1950s radio series.

Admission to this Falmouth Forum presentation is free and open to the public. A buffet dinner is available before the lecture at 6:00 PM in the Swope Center located near the auditorium. Dinner tickets are $20 and must be purchased in advance at either Eight Cousins Children’s Books, Main Street, Falmouth, or at the MBL’s Communications Office in the Candle House, 127 Water Street in Woods Hole. Dinner seats are limited, and tickets are only available until they sell out or until 5:00 PM on Tuesday, November 14. All tickets are nonrefundable. For more information contact the MBL’s Communications Office at 508-289-7423.

Copies of This I Believe: The Personal Philosophies of Remarkable Men and Women, will be available for purchase before and after the lecture in the Lillie Auditorium lobby. A book signing will follow the lecture.

The Falmouth Forum will continue throughout the fall and winter. The remaining lectures in the series are below.

December 1 - "Health Information: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly"
Donald Lindberg, M.D., Director, National Library of Medicine

January 19 - "Arab Women’s Dilemmas with Democratic Reform"
Andrea Rugh, Adjunct Scholar with the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C.

February 9 - "The Pathos of Bubonic Plague in Italy (1500-1800) Depicted Through Art" - James Welu, Director, Worcester Art Museum and Richard Glew, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, UMass Medical School

March 15 - "The Old Ship of Zion: African American Gospel Music"
Horace Clarence Boyer, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Music at UMASS Amherst
**NOTE: Thursday Lecture**

All lectures are free and open to the public. For more information and for full lecture descriptions, visit http://www.mbl.edu/events/falmouthforum

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The MBL is an international, independent, nonprofit institution dedicated to improving the human condition through creative research and education in the biological, biomedical and environmental sciences. Founded in 1888 as the Marine Biological Laboratory, the MBL is the oldest private marine laboratory in the Western Hemisphere. For more information, visit www.MBL.edu

The MBL Associates are a group of individuals and businesses that support the scientific mission of the MBL through their gifts to the Annual Fund. The Associates sponsor educational and research programs for the MBL and raise funds for special projects. In addition, they operate the MBL Associates Gift Shop, located on Water Street in Woods Hole, the profits from which support scientific fellowships.