Author Kathryn Lofton will be speaking about her book “Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon,” tonight during a roundtable discussion.

Lofton, will be discussing her work and give the audience the opportunity to read the first two chapters of her work. Faculty and staff from the English, Theatre and Gender & Women Studies department will also participate in the discussion and respond to Lofton’s theories. The discussion will then open to the audience.

The event, hosting by the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory will start at 8 p.m. on the second floor of the Levis Faculty Center.

“Oprah: The Gospel of an Icon,” focuses on Oprah Winfrey’s Harpo Productions, O Magazine and her television network. The book labels Winfrey as a “media messiah” and describes the influence she has on her audience.

Lofton, an associate professor of religious studies and American studies at Yale, has been focusing her work on Winfrey from a religious perspective.

“We love when we have the chance to bring this kind of speaker to campus and involve people from other backgrounds,” said Lauren Goodlad, director of the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory.