What: "The Crowd, the Hills, and the Wild: Jack London in Piedmont," a lecture by Christopher Sindt in conjuntion with the Hearst Art Gallery exhibit "Footloose in Arcadia: Artists and Authors of Piedmont from 1890 to 1930."

Who: Sindt is associate dean of the Saint Mary's College School of Liberal Arts and previously served as director of the MFA Program in Creative Writing. A recepient of the James D. Phelan Award from the San Francisco Foundation, Sindt's poetry has appeared recently in nocturnes, Pool, Swerve, and Xantippe. A chapbook of his poetry, The Land of Give and Take, was published in 2002. Sindt's scholarly work focuses on the literature of California, the literature of the natural world and literary modernism.

When: Friday, Nov. 2, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. A reception follows from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Where: Soda Activity Center, Saint Mary's College, 1928 St. Mary's Rd., Moraga

Contact: Hearst Art Gallery at (925) 631-4379. For more information, go to: http://gallery.stmarys-ca.edu/