Oak Ridge Today

Pulitzer Prize winner from Oak Ridge the featured speaker at YWCA event

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Ellen Reid (Photo by James Matthew Daniel)

Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Ellen Reid, an Oak Ridge native, will be the featured speaker at a YWCA event next week.

It’s the second Talk and Toast for the YWCA Knoxville and the Tennessee Valley, and it will be on Thursday, October 10, in honor of October being Domestic Violence Awareness Month. The public is invited, a press release said.

Networking will begin at 5:30 p.m. next Thursday, and the program will start at 6 p.m. at the Grove Theater at 123 Randolph Road in Oak Ridge.

A $40 seat will include heavy hors d’oeuvres, beer or wine, and an intimate discussion with Reid, the press release said.

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Ellen Reid, who grew up in Oak Ridge, wins Pulitzer Prize in music

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Ellen Reid (Photo by James Matthew Daniel)

Ellen Reid, who grew up in Oak Ridge, has won the Pulitzer Prize in music.

Reid, 36, won the prize for her debut opera, titled “p r i s m,” which features a libretto by Roxie Perkins.

The Pulitzer Prize Board described “p r i s m” as “a bold new operatic work that uses sophisticated vocal writing and striking instrumental timbres to confront difficult subject matter: the effects of sexual and emotional abuse.”

The Pulitzer Prizes were announced Monday.

“I am blown away and incredibly honored to receive this year’s Pulitzer Prize in music,” Reid said on her Facebook page. “Composing p r i s m was a challenging, rewarding, and deeply personal experience, and I hope this opera will help shed light on the experience of surviving sexual assault.”

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