MSSU Honors Lecture Series to present "Stoker on Stoker"

(From Southern News Service)

Dacre Stoker, the great-grandnephew of “Dracula” author Bram Stoker, will be this year’s featured speaker for the Honors Lecture Series at Missouri Southern State University.

He will offer a multi-media presentation entitled “Stoker on Stoker: The Mysteries Behind the Writing of ‘Dracula’” at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 12, in Webster Hall’s Corley Auditorium. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A and book signing.

Dacre Stoker is the international best-selling co-author of “Dracula the Un-Dead,” the 2009 official Stoker family endorsed sequel to “Dracula.” He served as the co-editor of 2012’s “The Lost Journal of Bram Stoker: The Dublin Years,” and in 2018 co-authored the “Dracula” prequel “Dracul,” which was a top 5 finalist by the Horror Writers Association for the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Novel.

He has consulted and appeared in film documentaries about vampires in literature and popular culture, and hosts tours to places where Bram Stoker lived and worked as well as to Transylvania, the setting for the classic novel.

“Stoker on Stoker” will explore the history of “Dracula” along with Stoker family lore and separate fact from fiction and explore the issues that have baffled scholars and fans since the book’s publication in 1897. It will include Dacre’s collection of never-before published and seldom seen historic images to offer a glimpse behind the scenes of one of the least-known authors and one of the world’s most famous books.

“As a fan of ‘Dracula,’ and of Gothic literature in general, I am thrilled to welcome Dacre Stoker to the MSSU campus for what will certainly be a fun and informative presentation on a classic novel that has become such an important part of our popular culture,” said Dr. Michael Howarth, director of the Honors Program.

“I look forward to learning more about Bram Stoker’s life, as well as about Dacre Stoker’s own creative journey through his numerous publications and family research.”

Since 2015, the Honors Lecture Series has brought esteemed speakers to the Missouri Southern campus. Previous speakers have included David Moritz (CEO of Society Awards); author Andrew Geyer; physicist Alan Lightman; and author Victoria Price, daughter of legendary actor Vincent Price.

Admission to the event is free and open to the public.