9-16-04
WRITER FAITH ADIELE TO READ IN BEHREND
CREATIVE WRITERS SPEAKER SERIES
Nonfiction writer Faith Adiele will read from her works as part of Penn State Behrend's Creative Writers Speaker Series. The reading will be held on Thursday, October 7, at 6:00 p.m. in the Reed Union Building, room 117. A reception for Adiele will be held at 4:00 p.m. in the Smith Chapel living room. Both reading and reception are free and open to the public.
Adiele is the author of Meeting Faith: The Forest Journals of a Black Buddhist Nun (2004), which was made into a PBS documentary in April 2004. The book tells the story of Adiele's trip to Thailand, and her ordination as Thailand's first black Buddhist nun. She is presently at work on Twins: Growing Up Nigerian/Nordic/American, a memoir that completes the story of the documentary. She has received awards from UNESCO, PEN New England, Yaddo, Crab Orchard Review, Creative Nonfiction Foundation, Djerassi, and the Zora Neale Hurston/Richard Wright Foundation, among others. She has held twelve artists' residencies in 4 countries.
Adiele, of both Nordic and Nigerian descent, was raised in Washington State's Yakima Valley. She has a B.A. in Southeast Asian studies from Harvard University, an M.A. in creative writing from Lesley College, and M.F.A.'s from the University of Iowa in both fiction and nonfiction. She currently teaches at the University of Pittsburgh.
The Creative Writers Speaker Series is co-sponsored by the Clarence and Eugenie Baumann Smith Fund and the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. For more information about the series, contact the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at 814-898-6108.
Contact: Jen Town 814-898-6522 e-mail: jlt234@psu.edu