For Immediate Release
|
Four prominent science fiction and fantasy authors and editors, all women of African descent, will appear at Smith College's Otelia Cromwell Day celebration, which honors their first Black graduate. Nalo Hopkinson, Sheree R. Thomas, Nisi Shawl, and Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu will participate in readings and lively panel discussions on the topics of race and story, scheduled from Wednesday, November 8 through Friday, November 10, 2006. Most events are open to the public. A full schedule is given below.
Smith College is located in Northampton, Massachusetts, and is one of the historic "Seven Sisters" educational institutions for women. In 1900, Otelia Cromwell left the prestigious women's college as Smith's first African American graduate. Mary Maples Dunn, president emeritus of Smith College, initiated Otelia Cromwell Day in 1989 in an effort to provide the college community with an opportunity for further education and reflection about issues of diversity and racism. Smith professor Andrea Hairston, event organizer and a published science fiction author also, cites speculative fiction as one of the areas in which the illusions of racial caricature can be both visible and transparent.
Nalo Hopkinson is the author of four novels, including The Salt Roads, a Gaylactic Spectrum Award-winner, and of the 2003 World Fantasy Award-winning collection Skin Folk. She has edited and co-edited four anthologies and is President of the Carl Brandon Society, a non-profit concerned with the representation of people of color in the fantastic genres.
Sheree R. Thomas is a poet and short-story writer. Her work appears in Callaloo, Colorlines, Hurricane Blues, and numerous anthologies. She has edited several literary magazines, most notably Anansi, and the groundbreaking Dark Matter anthologies of speculative fiction by African descended writers, winners of the 2001 and 2005 World Fantasy Awards.
Nisi Shawl's short stories have appeared widely, including in the latest volume of The Year's Best Fantasy & Horror. She is the co-author of Writing the Other: Bridging Cultural Differences for Successful Fiction, and edits BEYOND, an annual magazine of Afro-centric speculative fiction by teens.
Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu is best known for her Young Adult novel Zahrah the Windseeker. Her second novel, Ejii the Shadow Speaker, is due out in 2007. She also wrote the satiric tale "The Magical Negro," published in Dark Matter: Reading the Bones, and the related essay "Stephen King's Super-Duper Magical Negroes," available online at the Strange Horizons website.
"Magical Negroes: Narrative, Identity, and the Future."
7:30 PM, WEDNESDAY, November 8, 2006, Neilson Browsing Room
Organized by Andrea Hairston; featuring Nisi Shawl, Nalo Hopkinson, Sheree Renee Thomas, Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu.
Private Class.
10:30-12:50 AM, THURSDAY, November 10, 2006,
"Breaking out of the Caricature Warehouse."
2:30-4:30 PM, THURSDAY, November 9, 2006, McConnell B05
Organized by by Andrea Hairston; featuring Nisi Shawl, Nalo Hopkinson, Sheree Renee Thomas, and Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu.
"Talking to Tomorrow: Black Women Speculative Writers."
4-6 PM, FRIDAY, November 10, 2006, Theater 1140 (Green Room)
Readings by Nisi Shawl, Sheree Renee Thomas, Nalo Hopkinson, and Nnedi Okorafor-Mbachu.
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