Mitch Albom

If there’s a way to communicate with audiences, most likely, Mitch Albom has done it. He’s a well-known, award-winning columnist for the Detroit Free Press who began his writing career as a sports journalist. He is the author of 10 books, including “The Five People You Meet in Heaven”—the most successful U.S. hardback first novel ever—“Tuesdays With Morrie,” “For One More Day” and his latest, “Have a Little Faith.” Albom has penned the off-Broadway play version of “Morrie,” as well as two screenplays based on two of his bestselling books. He’s also a familiar face to ESPN-watchers, as a featured guest on the show, “The Sports Reporters.” And in his spare time Albom has founded four charities, mostly in the Detroit metro area. His most recent effort, A Hole in the Roof Foundation, helps faith groups of every denomination that care for the homeless repair the spaces in which they carry out their work. In “Have a Little Faith,”

Albom writes about the inspiration for the organization, a church called I Am My Brother’s Keeper in inner-city Detroit. Albom comes to campus on Sunday, May 16, as the 2010 Baccalaureate Ceremony speaker (open only to students), and afterwards, from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m., he will sign copies of “Have a Little Faith” at the Penn Bookstore. For more information, go to www.upenn.edu/bookstore.

Mitch Albom