BOONE—Award-winning author Stephen J. Dubner returns to Appalachian State University Sept. 7 at 10 a.m. as keynote speaker for Convocation.

The event will be held in the George M. Holmes Convocation Center and is open to the public.

Dubner, a 1984 graduate of the university, is co-author of the best selling “Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything,” which was selected for this year’s summer reading program.

Dubner will participate in a panel discussion at 1:30 p.m. in I.G. Greer Auditorium, and he will read from a variety of works that focus on memoir, hero worship and sports at the Hughlene Bostain Frank Visiting Writers Series at 7:30 p.m. in Plemmons Student Union’s Table Rock Room.

On Sept. 8, Dubner will give a presentation at Watauga County Public Library at 10:30 p.m.

Dubner majored in communication while a student at Appalachian. After graduating from the university, and following a foray as a musician with the rock band The Right Profile, he enrolled at Columbia University, where he earned an MFA in writing in 1990.

Dubner was a writer and editor for New York Times Magazine from 1994 to 1999. He also has written for the New York Times, the Washington Post, Time magazine, and other publications.

He wrote the national best-seller “Turbulent Souls: A Catholic Son’s Return

to His Jewish Family,” which was named a Notable Book by the New York Times and a finalist for the Koret National Jewish Book Award. The book has been reissued with the title “Choosing My Religion: A Memoir of a Family Beyond Belief.”

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