| Colson Whitehead Thursday, October 10 12:30pm-2pm Library Auditorium Crandall Library |
Colson Whitehead's multilayered second novel, John Henry Days (2001) juxtaposes the stories of two African-American men:John Henry, the 19th century railroad worker and folk hero, and J. Sutter, a modern-day hack journalsit assigned to cover a John Henry Day festival. The book received the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award and was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Whitehead's debut novel, The Illusionist (1998), received the QPB New Voices Award and wan an Ernest Hemingway/PEN Award finalist. He is also the recipient of a 2000 Whiting Writers' Award. |
| Ana Menedez Wednesday, November 13 12:30pm-2:00pm Library Auditorium Crandall Library |
Ana Menendez is the author of a debut collection of interrrelated short stories, In Cuba I Was a German Shepherd (2001). The title story was selected for the Pushcart Prize. The daughter of Cuban exiles, Menendez spent six years as a journalist, first at The Miami Herald, for which she the Miami neighborhood of Little Havana, then at The Orange County Register in California. Menendez graduated from the Creative Writing Program at New York University where she was a New York Times fellow. Her stories, sad and humorous, examine how coming to the United States has changed the lives of Cuban immigrants. |