Paul Simon will give the 2013 Richard Ellmann Lectures in Modern Literature at Atlanta, GA’s Emory University from February 10-12, 2012.

In a statement, Joseph Skibell, associate professor of English and creative writing at Emory and director of the lectures, described Simon as “a consummate songwriter.” He also says the lectures aim to “slightly open up the concept of what literature is.: The international selection committee discussed song as a part of world literature, and agreed that Simon was the obvious first choice.

The Ellmann Lectures consist of a series of public lectures that are ticketed but free and open to the public. Tickets will be available near the end of the university’s fall semester. Simon’s lectures will concern, in part, an overview of the historical antecedents of the music made between 1966 and 1970.