Feb. 25, 1999
Contact: Rebecca Arrington
(804) 924-7189


AUTHOR AND EDITOR GEORGE PLIMPTON TO SPEAK AT U.VA. MARCH 9
	George Plimpton, award-winning writer, adventurer, humorist and
editor of the Paris Review, will give a public talk Tuesday, March 9, at
8 p.m. at the University of Virginia Bookstore. His Peters Rushton
Lecture is sponsored by U.Va.'s English Department.
	Best known for his informative "participatory journalism" --
where he dares to take part in a professional sport or other difficult
activity and then write about it -- Plimpton is praised as an elegant
stylist who writes with depth and wit.                       
	Born in New York in 1927 and educated at Cambridge, he has
written classic books and essays about such activities as pitching in a
post-season All-Star game in Yankee Stadium, serving as a third-string
quarterback for the Detroit Lions, golfing in Pro-Am tournaments,
playing in a basketball game for the Boston Celtics, boxing with former
light heavyweight champion Archie Moore, and playing goalie for two
professional hockey teams. He has also fought in a bullfight staged by
Ernest Hemingway in 1954, and worked as a trapeze artist, lion-tamer and
clown for the Clyde Beatty-Cole Brothers Circus.
	Among other activities, Plimpton developed a stand-up comedy
routine and performed it in Las Vegas, served as a percussionist with
the New York Philharmonic and as a guest conductor of the Cincinnati
Symphony, and appeared in a number of films. He has also hosted specials
on TV and since 1973 has been honorary commissioner of fireworks for New
York City. 
	His many writing genres have included children's fiction,
history, literary criticism, sports, memoir, biography and satire. His
classic "Paper Lion," about his adventures with the Detroit Lions, has
been called the best book written about pro football. A sampling of his
best-known pieces is collected in "The Best of Plimpton" (1991,
Grove/Atlantic). 
	 Plimpton's other great interest centers on the small,
influential literary magazine he has edited since 1953, the Paris
Review, which publishes work by some of the world's best writers.
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	For more information, call Lisa Russ Spaar, director of the
U.Va. Creative Writing program, at 924-6675. Television reporters should
contact the TV News Office at (804) 924-7550.