Sept. 26, 2002

Contact: Joe Harrington, English, (785) 864-2575, or Marta Caminero- Santangelo, English, (785) 864-2529.

Award-winning Cuban-American novelist to read works at KU Oct. 22

LAWRENCE -- Award-winning Cuban-American novelist Cristina Garcia will visit the University of Kansas and present a public reading of her works at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 22, in the Malott Room of the Kansas Union. The free event is open to the public.

Garcia's novels have been widely acclaimed. Her first, "Dreaming in Cuban," was nominated for the National Book Award, and her second, "The Aguero Sisters," has been widely admired by critics and readers. Her work illustrates the complexities of a dual cultural identity and its benefits, drawbacks and penalties.

Garcia was born in Havana and raised in New York City. She attended Columbia University and later became Time magazine's bureau chief for Florida and the Caribbean, then became a novelist. She has received a Guggenheim fellowship, a Whiting Writer's Award and a Princeton University fellowship.

This event is co-sponsored by the Department of English, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, the Center of Latin American Studies, the Hall Center for the Humanities, the Department of Spanish and Portuguese, the Women's Studies Program and the Department of American Studies. For more information, contact Joe Harrington, (785) 864-2575, or Marta Caminero-Santangelo, (785) 864-2529.