Screenwriter, novelist and educator Howard Rodman ’71 will be on campus Oct. 17 for a reading of his most recent book, “The Great Eastern,” in one of two public events hosted by the Milstein Program in Technology and Humanity.

The reading is at 4:45 p.m. in the English Study Lounge, 258 Goldwin Smith Hall.

“The Great Eastern,” soon to be adapted to film, follows two of literature’s iconic anti-heroes – Captain Nemo from “20,000 Leagues Under the Sea” and Captain Ahab from “Moby Dick” – as they do battle throughout the late 19th century.

Rodman was editor-in-chief of The Cornell Daily Sun in 1970-71. He is a former president of the Writers Guild of America West; professor and former chair of the writing division at the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts; an artistic director of the Sundance Institute Screenwriting Labs; and a member of the executive committee of the Writers Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

His films include “Savage Grace,” starring Julianne Moore, and “August,” with Josh Hartnett, Rip Torn and David Bowie. Both had their U.S. premieres at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

The Milstein Program also is hosting a two-day workshop, Nov. 18 and 20, with Anna Feigenbaum, who teaches multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University in England. The workshop will explore data storytelling; the importance of audience; and humanizing data visualization.

“Our Milstein Program events for the fall bring together storytelling and technology,” said Amy Villarejo, director of the Milstein Program in Ithaca and the Frederic J. Whiton Professor of Humanities in the College of Arts and Sciences. “Howard Rodman’s novel brilliantly imagines sea life, above and below water, as an epic struggle for control over human resources. Anna Feigenbaum’s workshop enables students to become storytellers themselves, using data and visual information.”

Kathy Hovis is a writer for the College of Arts and Sciences.