The historical, political, ecological and cultural legacies of the Vietnam War will be discussed by internationally and nationally known speakers during a conference to be held Thursday, April 27, through Sunday, April 30 at the University of California, Davis. Titled "Vietnam Legacies: 20 Years Later," the conference will be the centerpiece of related events on the UC Davis campus and in Davis commemorating the ending of the Vietnam War. The last day of the conference marks the 20th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. A highlight of the conference will be an evening of readings by prominent authors whose works focused on the war. The conference begins with an evening reception and slide show on Thursday, April 27. Conference sessions, to be held in the University Club, start at 8:30 a.m. Friday, April 28, at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, April 29, and at 9 a.m. Sunday, April 30. Conference participants "will use the occasion not merely to look back at the war's effects but also to look forward at the ways that each country can learn from the other," said conference organizer Eric Schroeder, a UC Davis lecturer in English. Schroeder adds that "unlike a number of other conferences that have focused on Vietnam, we are planning to have many speakers from both the United States and Vietnam." Among topics to be discussed at the conference by internationally and nationally known speakers will be war memorials, veterans' issues, the Vietnamese ecosystem, the Vietnamese diaspora, the anti-war movement, regional planning in Vietnam, and the war's effect on literature, the media, religion and global politics. Speakers invited to talk at the conference include activist Daniel Ellsberg, Father Daniel Berrigan, journalist Robert Scheer, author and journalist Nguyen Qui Duc, Vietnam War veteran Jan Scruggs, and author and professor Walter Capps. Eight participants have been invited from Vietnam, including the internationally renowned ecologist Vo Quy from the University of Hanoi. Several UC Davis faculty members also will participate in the conference, including Ruth Rosen, a history professor; Carole Blair, a rhetoric and communication professor; Jay Mechling, an American Studies professor; Louis Grivetti, a nutrition professor and Larry Berman, a professor of political science. The conference also will feature a special event on Saturday evening, April 29, in 1100 Social Sciences, during which American and Vietnamese novelists and poets will read from their works. Those reading will include Tim O'Brien, Larry Heinemann, Bruce Weigl, Ly Lan and Nguyen Duy. Writer Maxine Hong Kingston will moderate the event. Schroeder calls the readings "a unique meeting of some of the best contemporary writers in America and Vietnam." Conference sponsors include the California Council for the Humanities, the UC Office of the President, and the UC Davis Office of the Provost, College of Letters and Science, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Department of English, American Studies program, Davis Humanities Institute, the Veterans Affairs program and Cathay Pacific Airways. The readings on Saturday evening are funded in part by Poets & Writers Inc., through major grants from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund and the Lannan Foundation. Among the related Vietnam retrospective cultural events planned at UC Davis this spring are a weekly film series, an art exhibition in the Memorial Union Gallery and a book exhibit in Shields Library. The city of Davis will host the Moving Wall Vietnam Veterans Memorial, a half-sized replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., from April 23-29. The moving wall will be on display 24 hours a day. Registration fees for the conference are $95 for the general public and $35 for students. Single tickets for the Saturday evening reading will be available for $15. The gallery exhibition, film series, library exhibit and moving wall memorial access are free.