(And I'm not talking about The Mercury's two Pulitzer Prize winners, Tom Kelly and Tom Hylton). Here's a story on an upcoming presentation from a more recent Pulitzer winner written by our sister paper, The Lansdale Reporter:
(note, the event will be simulcast to MCCC's Pottstown campus)

Pulitzer-prize writer to speak at MCCC
By staff, The Reporter 10/20/2008

Michael Cunningham, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "The Hours," will be featured at Montgomery County Community College's annual Writers Conference.

The event is set for Nov. 14-15 in the Science Center Theater, 340 DeKalb Pike, Whitpain.

It also will feature conference workshops by other writers on novel, short story, query letter, poetry, writing for the Web, journalism, comics, romance and literary law.

There will be a hospitality center, an agents panel, and individual appointments with agents.

The Writers Conference will begin Nov. 14, at 3:30 p.m. with a question and answer session with Cunningham for registered attendees.

An hors d'oeuvres reception follows at 5:30 p.m., followed by Cunningham's keynote address at 7:30 p.m.

The recipient of a Whiting Writers Award (1995), a Guggenheim Fellowship (1993), a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship (1988) and a Michener Fellowship from the University of Iowa (1982), Cunningham is one of the preeminent American writers working today.

His novel "A Home at the End of the World" was published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 1990. "Flesh and Blood," another novel, followed in 1995. He received the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the PEN/Faulkner Award for his novel "The Hours."

He has written one nonfiction book, "Land's End: A Walk Through Provincetown." He is also the author of "Specimen Days" (June 2005), and his work has appeared in The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, The Paris Review, and other publications.

His story "White Angel" was chosen for Best American Short Stories 1989, and another story, "Mister Brother," appeared in the 2000 O. Henry Collection.

The conference continues on Nov. 15 with individual meetings with publishing agents for pre-registered attendees, a panel discussion on working with an agent, and workshops on the pragmatic issues relating to writing across a range of genres for various markets.

Registration for all Friday and Saturday events costs $85 when postmarked by Oct. 31, or $95 any time after. A discount is available for pre-registered senior citizens, MCCC staff, and Montgomery County Intermediate Unit staff.

An additional discount is available for MCCC and Montgomery County Intermediate Unit students.

Tickets for Cunningham's presentation only on Friday night cost $15. The Friday night presentation will be simulcast to the West Campus in Pottstown.

Additional details are available at www.mc3.edu/writers-conf, by calling the (215) 619-7422 or by e-mailing writersconf@mc3.edu. Conferees may register by mail or online.

Learn more about Cunningham and read some of his work on his Web site

The following story about Reading Reads is from our sister papers, Berks Mont Newspapers. I am psyched to see that Pulitzer winning author Richard Russo "Empire Falls", "Straight Man") is going to be speaking on the Alvernia campus next month as part of the festival.

Reading Reads: Reading Literary Festival enters third year

Poetry workshops and open mike sessions, children reading to dogs, programs ranging from vampires to ghosts to the reconciling of religion in the public schools, the appearance of a Pulitzer Prize-winning writer-these are among the events scheduled for the third Reading Reads: The Greater Reading Literary Festival.The festival will take place throughout the month of October and throughout Berks County in nearly 30 venues. Dozens of authors, poets, illustrators, and lecturers will take part in more than 90 events during the month.

A complete schedule of events, feature articles, and updates are available at the festival web site, www.readingreads.com.

Highlights of the 2008 Literary Festival include:

• The naming of the 2008 Poet Laureate of Berks County, which will take place on Oct. 1 at 10 a.m. in the Miller Center of Reading Area Community College. A gala event is scheduled, sponsored by RACC in collaboration with Berks County Libraries, the Berks Bards poetry group, and the Greater Reading Literary Festival.

• An appearance by the world-renowned Poetry Slam titleists "Junkyard Ghost Revival" at the Berks Campus of Penn State University. The "spoken word theater experience" will take place in the Perkins Student Center at 9 p.m. on Oct.16.

• An "Author Extravaganza" with 16 local and regional writers discussing and signing their works at Borders Books & Music on Oct. 18. The event begins at 10 a.m. and continues through 8 p.m.

• Pulitzer Prize-winning author Richard Russo (Empire Falls, Bridge of Sighs, and more) will speak in the Alvernia College Physical Education Center at 6 p.m. on Oct. 21.

• The Literary Festival will honor Reading's landmark Pagoda atop Mount Penn by dubbing it the "Bookoda" and presenting several events there on Oct. 24. The evening begins with a "mixer" of writers' groups from Greater Reading and the Lehigh Valley, continues with a book signing by Reading Police Chief William Heim and Reading Fire Chief William Rehr (both authors), and concludes with ghost stories by author Charles J. Adams III.

• Eli Kowalski, author of Looking Back: 75 Years of Eagles History, will sign his book and chew the fat with Philadelphia Eagles fans at Barnes & Noble at 6 p.m. on Oct. 30.