POTSDAM -- Actor and best-selling novelist Herman Koch will speak at a convocation at 7 p.m. Sunday, Aug. 24 in Clarkson University’s Cheel Arena. The event is open to the public free of charge.

Koch's best-selling novel “The Dinner” was this year's first-year student common reading assignment at Clarkson. The book is a darkly suspenseful and highly controversial tale of two families struggling to make the hardest decision of their lives over the course of one meal.

Readers and critics alike have debated the disturbing family drama and the uncomfortable questions it posed, making “The Dinner” one of 2013’s most discussed novels.

It spent multiple weeks on the New York Times, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and IndieBound bestseller lists.

Since its 2013 publication, Oscar-winning actress Cate Blanchett has signed on to direct a film adaptation of the book. Koch has earned a special distinction in his home country, as the book has been recognized as the most translated Dutch novel.

Koch is the author of eight novels and three collections of short stories.

He is speaking as part of the Kenneth J. and Irla Van Sickle Endowed Lectureship, established in 1992.

For more information, contact Tamera Rizk at268-6680 or trizk@clarkson.edu.