NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER AUTHOR TO PRESENT AT BLUFFTON
Area high school students will travel to Bluffton University to attend the 25th annual English Festival on Tuesday, April 7. The festival will feature guest author Karen Joy Fowler, who will present "The Life and Times of a Novelist in the 21st Century" at 11 a.m., in Founders Hall, as a part of Bluffton University’s weekly Forum series. Forum is free and open to the public.
Fowler is the author of five novels and two short story collections. Her most recent novel, The Jane Austen Book Club, spent 13 weeks on the New York Times bestsellers list and was a New York Times Notable Book. Fowler’s novel, Sister Noon, was a finalist for the 2001 PEN/Faulkner Award for fiction. Her debut novel, Sarah Canary, was a New York Times Notable Book, as was her second novel, The Sweetheart Season. In addition, Sarah Canary won the Commonwealth medal for best first novel by a Californian, and was short-listed for the Irish Times International Fiction Prize as well as the Bay Area Book Reviewers Prize. Fowler’s short story collection Black Glass won the World Fantasy Award in 1999.
The festival includes an intensive day of literary and writing activities led by Bluffton University English department faculty. Activities will include college-level discussions, impromptu writing exercises and several sessions with Fowler. Emphasis will be placed on readings which students read prior to the day.
In addition to meeting with an accomplished author, visiting students are given the opportunity and encouraged to participate in poetry and prose contests. Winners can present their works to the festival audience and have their selections published in a booklet to be distributed to all participating schools.
Kristie Corney, public relations office, 3/25/09
