Darn!

Kurt Vonnegut will NOT be coming to Indy this month after all.

According to a report on the website of The Indianapolis Star this afternoon:

"The Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library announced today that renowned author Kurt Vonnegut Jr. will not give the 2007 McFadden Memorial Lecture as scheduled. Vonnegut is recovering from a recent fall and is unable to travel.

"Instead, his son Mark will deliver his father's speech at the April 28 event at Clowes Hall. Additionally, there will be a recorded reading by Vonnegut of an excerpt from Slaughterhouse-Five, his classic work about the firebombing of Dresden, Germany, during World War II.

"The lecture is part of the community-wide celebration 'The Year of Vonnegut', honoring the life, literature and heritage of the city's [German-American] native son.

"The library's announcement of the lecture change came at the same time as an announcement by Mayor Bart Peterson that Slaughterhouse-Five has been selected as this year's 'One Book, One City' title."