(NORTH ADAMS, Mass.) — Cultural journalist Seth Rogovoy has been named 2016 Hardman Journalist-in-Residence by Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts (MCLA). Rogovoy will present a talk, “Keeping the Beat: A Life in Journalism,” on Wednesday, March 23, at 11am in Murdoch Hall’s Sammer Dennis Room (218), on the MCLA campus. The talk is free and open to the public. Rogovoy will visit a number of journalism, media studies, and arts-writing classes during his two-day residency at MCLA.

“As a journeyman writer, culture and arts critic, editor and producer, Seth has been a pillar of the Berkshire County arts and culture scene for decades,” said Dr. David Zachary Finch, assistant professor of English/communications at MCLA. “By working with him closely during his residency, MCLA students will gain the invaluable opportunity to explore firsthand how a writer can thrive professionally, at a time when writing and publishing no longer follow well-blazoned career paths.”

“Seth is an impressive example of someone who has turned his many passions into a meaningful livelihood that makes a difference in his community,” Finch added.

Together, Finch and Dr. Joseph Ebiware, professor of English/Communications, serve as Hardman scholars, and are coordinating Rogovoy’s residence.

While at MCLA, Rogovoy will meet with journalism students individually and over lunches, advise the staff of MCLA’s student-run newspaper the Beacon, do interviews with MCLA media, and give the public talk on Wednesday, March 23, which will conclude with a question and answer session.

Rogovoy is a writer, editor, award-winning critic, book author, cultural journalist, lecturer, teacher, radio commentator, cultural programmer, marketing consultant, record producer, theatrical producer, talent buyer’s agent, artist manager, and amateur photographer and musician.

Rogovoy is the author of Bob Dylan: Prophet Mystic Poet (Scribner, 2009), a full-length analysis of Dylan’s life and work, and The Essential Klezmer: A Music Lover’s Guide to Jewish Roots and Soul Music (Algonquin Books, 2000), the bestselling guide to klezmer music.

Rogovoy also is editor and publisher of The Rogovoy Report – an online magazine of cultural and critical news and observations — and BerkshireDaily and HudsonValleyDaily — e-newsletters aggregating news, features, and commentary from around the corner and around the globe.

For more than a quarter century, Rogovoy’s work has appeared in the English-language national Jewish newsweekly the Forward, to which he is a contributing editor. Rogovoy’s cultural journalism also has appeared in dozens of other publications throughout the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel, including Newsday, Haaretz, the Boston Phoenix, and the Berkshire Eagle.

Rogovoy is the programming consultant for the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, where he curates its annual “YIDSTOCK: Festival of New Yiddish Music,” which debuted in summer 2012 under his artistic direction.

His weekly cultural commentary can be heard on WAMC Northeast Public Radio Network on “Midday Magazine,” on Fridays between 12:30 and 1 p.m.

Seth was editor-in-chief of the now-defunct Berkshire Living, a perennially award-winning regional lifestyle and culture magazine that served the greater Berkshire region faithfully for six years.

A graduate of Williams College in Williamstown, Mass., where he has taught courses on Bob Dylan and klezmer, Seth lived in the Berkshires, where he raised a family, for over three decades. His daughter is a dancer and choreographer based in Brooklyn, and his son, based in Los Angeles, is a rock star who performs under the name Barely Alive.

Seth lives in Hudson, N.Y., and New York City.

The Hardman Journalist-in-Residence series, which welcomes journalists from the region to campus each spring, is made possible through the generosity of the Hardman Family Endowment.