NEWS

Former Reed Spokesman Kevin Meyers to Read From “Need Blind Ambition” at Annie Bloom’s Books Feb. 22

The novel parallels a difficult time in Reed College’s recent history.

Reed College campus. (Brian Brose)

Author and former Reed College communications director Kevin T. Myers will read from his new novel, Need Blind Ambition, at Annie Bloom’s Books at 7 pm Thursday, Feb. 22.

Meyers worked at Reed from 2007 until 2022. His time there overlapped a difficult period in which two Reed students died from heroin overdoses, events that forced the college to alter its anything-goes approach to campus drug use. Although fiction, Need Blind Ambition parallels much of what really happened—as reported by WW and other media—including pressure from state and federal law enforcement officials, painful communications with families, and battles with reporters.

Related: A New Novel Revisits a Dark Era at Reed College

Meyers saw it all from the inside—he was the point person for Reed’s public communications. His novel presents a deeply conflicted narrator battling with his long-repressed trauma while also coming to terms with the realization that his employer and its president are not who he hoped they were.

Annie Bloom’s Books is located at 7834 SW Capitol Highway.

Nigel Jaquiss

Reporter Nigel Jaquiss joined the Oregon Journalism project in 2025 after 27 years at Willamette Week.

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