Syracuse iSchool co-sponsors best-selling author Deborah Tannen Sept. 16 presentation on ‘family talk’

Deborah Tannen, a best-selling author and university professor of linguistics at Georgetown University, will give the talk “She Said/He Said/We Said: How Family Talk Sheds Light on Language and Gender” on Thursday, Sept. 16, at 6 p.m. in the Life Sciences Complex, room 001. The lecture is free and will be followed by a book sale and signing.

The author of numerous books and articles on how the language of everyday conversation affects relationships, Tannen is best known for “You Just Don’t Understand: Women and Men in Conversation” (William Morrow & Co., 1990), which was on the New York Times Best Seller list for nearly four years, including eight months at No. 1. Her latest book, “You Were Always Mom’s Favorite! Sisters in Conversation Throughout Their Lives” (Random House, 2009), was also a New York Times Best Seller and received a Books for a Better Life Award.

Tannen is a frequent guest on television and radio news and information shows, including “The Colbert Report,” “20/20,” “Good Morning America,” the “TODAY Show,” the “Rachael Ray Show,” “PBS NewsHour,” “Charlie Rose,” the “Oprah Winfrey Show,” “Hardball” and “Nightline,” as well as many shows on CNN and NPR.

Tannen is one of only five faculty members in Georgetown’s College of Arts and Sciences who hold the rank of university professor. In addition to her writing for general audiences, she is author or editor of many books and more than 100 articles for scholarly audiences. She has also published poems, short stories and personal essays. Learn more at http://www9.georgetown.edu/faculty/tannend/.

The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies in the College of Visual and Performing Arts; the iSchool; Women in Science and Engineering; and the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, the Department of Women’s and Gender Studies and the Writing Program, all in The College of Arts and Sciences.

For more information, contact Cynthia Gordon, professor of communication and rhetorical studies in the Department of Communication and Rhetorical Studies, at (315) 443-0792 or cygordon@syr.edu.