October 10, 2008                   

AMHERST, Mass.—South African novelist, poet and scholar Yvette Christiansë will read from her work at 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 5, at Amherst Books (8 Main Street). Sponsored by the Amherst College Creative Writing Center, the event is open to the public at no charge.

In a starred review, Kirkus called Christiansë’s novel Unconfessed “a gorgeous, devastating song of freedom that will inevitably be compared to Toni Morrison’s Beloved.” The book was a finalist for the 2007 Hemingway Foundation/PEN Award for a distinguished first book of fiction, and Caroline Leavitt described it as a “stunningly intimate, heart-wrenching history of slave life in Africa.”

Christiansë is an associate professor of literature and postcolonial studies at Fordham University.

Every year, the Amherst College Creative Writing Center sponsors a reading series featuring both emerging and established authors. All events are wheelchair accessible and followed by refreshments. For more information, please call 413/542-8200.

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