I love living in a college-rich town. If you’re in the market for smart conversation and a little painless education — on culture, politics, scientific breakthroughs, historical oddities, you name it — you need look no farther than the lecture line-up on nearby campuses.

Here’s an example that just caught my eye today: This Friday evening, the editors and some of the Minnesota-based contributors involved with the 2009 nonfiction bestseller “A New Literary History of America” will be on hand at the University of St. Thomas for what promises to be a fascinating panel discussion, entitled “1508 to 2008: Re-envisioning the Literary History of America.”

If the title doesn’t ring any bells, here’s the gist: Soon after it was published, the 1,000-plus-page anthology “A New Literary History of America” became a critical darling; it was quickly deemed indispensable and handily swept through “best-of-the-year” lists in literary and prole outlets alike — from Entertainment Weekly to Salon.com, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times to the Chronicle of Higher Education.

Co-edited by arts critic Greil Marcus and Harvard professor of English and Afro-American Studies Werner Sollors, the eclectic volume includes more than 200 original essays zeroing in on an idiosyncratic assortment of literary and cultural milestones that comprise the authors’ take on our nation’s self-made story. It’s an exploration of national narrative as told “through the visual arts, collage and photomontage, letters, cartoons, social networks, hip-hop, ballads, film, and the language of campaign speeches and inaugural addresses.” The result is an eccentric encyclopedia of literary Americana, as tackled by a diverse array of writers, critics, artists and academics — from the first mention of “America” to Obama’s election in 2008, by way of Linda Lovelace, Charlie Chaplin, Ulysses S. Grant and Longfellow’s “Hiawatha.”

And, as mentioned up top, the book’s themes should provide fodder for an amazing and far-ranging cultural conversation. Editors Marcus and Sollors will be there, as will contributors Lindsay Waters (Harvard University Press’ executive editor for the Humanities, who wrote on the film “From Here to Eternity”), Michael Gaudio (University of Minnesota Art History professor, whose essay weighed the influence of John White’s 1585 paintings of Virginia and its indigenous residents); James Dawes (Macalester College English Department chair, who reflected on the impact of Ulysses S. Grant’s memoirs); and Paula Rabinowitz (University of Minnesota professor of English, who contributed a piece on FDR’s “Fireside Chats.”)

Marcus and Sollors, co-editors of the anthology,”A New Literary History of America,” will present “1508 to 2008: Re-envisioning the Literary History of America,” joined by contributors Waters, Dawes, Gaudio and Rabinowitz . The discussion will take place on Friday, Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. at the University of St. Thomas (Owens Science Hall 3M Auditorium), 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul, Minn., 55105. Admission is free and open to the public.