Writer Melissa Fay Greene will speak on “The Literature of Fact and Why Good Writing Still Matters” in the 20th Ferdinand Phinizy Lecture. She is eminently well qualified for the task, and two of her five thoroughly researched and well written books have become Civil Rights landmarks, Praying for Sheetrock and The Temple Bombing. Sheetrock covers the struggles of an African-American community on the Georgia coast against a corrupt and bullying sheriff, and Bombing elucidates the mutual support among the Atlanta Jewish and African-American communities in the wake of the bombing of a synagogue by anti-Semitic white supremacists in 1958. Her newest book, No Biking in the House Without a Helmet, chronicles her life as a parent with nine children from three continents in the same household. The lecture, set to begin at 1:30 p.m., is free and open to the public, with a brief reception following.