Before there were audiobooks or books on tape — before there was even a printing press — there were storytellers who helped us understand the world.

Our friends at the Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts (hi Rachel Craft!) want to make sure that Life at HOK’s St. Louis readers know about their “Marathon Metamorphoses,” a two-day reading of Ovid’s Metamorphoses sponsored by Pulitzer along with the St. Louis Poetry Center and River Styx. Seventy people, including HOK Sustainable Design Director Mary Ann Lazarus, will read passages of this epic narrative poem in 15-minute time slots. The readings will take place in the Pulitzer’s Main Gallery on August 29-30, from 10:00 a.m. to (roughly) 7:00 p.m.

Mary Ann will read at 11:15 a.m. on August 30. She will be followed by her husband, Daniel Jay, managing principal at Christner Architects. We also see old friends Eric Thoelke, president of TOKY Branding + Design, and Stephen Schenkenberg, editor-in-chief of St. Louis Magazine, on the schedule. And while you’re soaking in Ovid’s influence on Western art and literature, you’ll be able to soak in some ice cold Schlafly beer from 4:00-6 p.m. on both days.

From Pulitzer’s web site:

Roman poet Ovid lived from 43 B.C. to A.D. 17. His masterwork, the “Metamorphoses”, is a treasury of classical myths filtered through the far from reverent sensibility of the poet who weaves together every major mythological story in an array of miraculous metamorphoses. This classical text will be read surrounded by the Old Masters paintings, some of which were inspired by the same stories in Ovid’s work.

The event is free and open to the public. The Pulitzer Foundation for the Arts is located at 3716 Washington Boulevard.

There is much more on Pulitzer’s site, the very cool event blog (which includes reader and behind-the scenes interviews), Facebook or even Twitter. Ovid probably never guessed we’d be Tweeting about his literary masterpiece.

The Tadao Ando-designed Pulitzer Building and its Main Gallery, where the readings will take place: