Event will introduce acclaimed authors and raise funds for the library
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The Claire T. Carney Library Associates announces the annual authors’ brunch fundraiser to be held on Sunday, April 7 at 12 noon at Woodland Commons on campus. The program will feature three distinguished women who have contributed immensely in their own particular way to the advancement of the literary and cultural world of the 21st Century.
Gish Jen is a second generation Chinese-American born and raised in New York. She is the author of short stories, novels, and works of non-fiction. She has been singled out by John Updike as one of the best short story writers of the last century. Her second work of non-fiction, The Girl at the Baggage Claim: Explaining the East-West Culture Gap is a provocative study of the differences between Easterners and Westerners. In 2017, she was honored with the Legacy Award by the Museum of the Chinese in America in New York.
Susan Wissler is the Executive Director of The Mount, Edith Wharton’s estate in the Berkshires. Miss Wissler brought back The Mount from the brink of foreclosure in 2008. Over 40,000 guests attend the music and lecture series at The Mount each year. Susan Wissler is the editor of Edith Wharton in France, a manuscript begun by Claudine Lesage but was unfinished at the time of the author’s death. This comprehensive work delineates brilliantly a missing part of the life and history of Edith Wharton and the impact it had on her later work.
Lauren Wolk is a poet, author, and artist. She is the associate director of the Cultural Center of Cape Cod. Her novel, Wolf Hollow, was named 2016 New England Book award winner. This novel has been compared to Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird because of its social impact. Her latest novel, the award winning, Beyond the Bright Sea, set on Cuttyhunk and Penikese islands, tells the story of a baby found adrift in the sea. Ms. Wolk is the 2018 winner of the Scott O’Dell Award for historical fiction.
Tickets are $45 and reservations must be made by March 31 by contacting Maria Sanguinetti at msanguinetti@umassd.edu or 508-991-5096. Reservations for tables of eight will receive a 10% discount. Online reservations will become available on March 1. Parking on campus is available in lot 5 with shuttle service to the venue from the campus center beginning at 11 a.m.