Authors Judith Ortiz Cofer and Kim Edwards to Read

ALBANY, NY (09/11/2007)(readMedia)-- --

JUDITH ORTIZ COFER, AWARD-WINNING PUERTO RICAN-AMERICAN AUTHOR, TO DISCUSS HER WORK IN HONOR OF NATIONAL HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH, SEPTEMBER 25, 2007

Judith Ortiz Cofer, award-winning Puerto Rican-American author, will read from her work in honor of National Hispanic Heritage Month, on Tuesday, September 25, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. in Assembly Hall, Campus Center, on the University at Albany’s uptown campus. Earlier that same day at 4:15 p.m. the author will present an informal seminar in the same location. The events are sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute and UAlbany’s Latin American, Caribbean, and U.S. Latino Studies Department, and are free and open to the public.

Born in Puerto Rico and raised in Paterson, New Jersey, Judith Ortiz Cofer is an award-winning poet, essayist, and novelist. Her work explores the experience of being Puerto Rican and living in the United States. The “New York Times Book Review” has acclaimed Cofer as “a writer of authentic gifts, with a genuine and important story to tell.”

Cofer’s first novel, “The Line of the Sun” (1989), was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, and was named a New York Public Library Outstanding Book of the Year. The novel traces the experiences of a family that emigrates from a poor Puerto Rican village to a tenement neighborhood in Paterson, New Jersey. Writing in the “New York Times,” Roberto Marquez praised the book for the “vigorous elegance” of its language, and called Cofer “a prose writer of evocatively lyrical authority, a novelist of historical compass and sensitivity.”

Cofer’s second novel, “The Meaning of Consuelo” (2003), tells the coming-of-age story of a Puerto Rican girl living in the suburbs of San Juan in the 1950s. A bookish adolescent, Consuelo must face the challenges posed by her parents’ crumbling marriage and her younger sister’s descent into mental illness. In a starred review, “Booklist” said, “Cofer combines the timeless clarity and moral imperative of folktales with the timely wit of keen social criticism in an absorbing portrait of a smart and compassionate young woman....”

Cofer is also the author of “Woman in Front of the Sun: On Becoming a Writer” (2000), an autobiographical collection of essays, interwoven with poetry and folklore, and replete with wisdom for aspiring writers. The “Library Journal” reviewer said, “Cofer writes with conviction and power....”

Her most recent book is a young adult novel about the Puerto Rican-American immigrant experience, “Call Me Maria” (2006). Maria’s father has taken her to live in a cramped basement apartment in New York, while her mother remains behind in Puerto Rico. “School Library Journal” said, “Understated but with a brilliant combination of all the right words to convey events, Cofer aptly relates the complexities of Maria’s two homes, her parents’ lives, and the difficulty of her choice between them.”

Cofer’s other books include the essay collection, “Silent Dancing” (1990), a New York Public Library Outstanding Book of the Year and winner of the PEN/Martha Albrand Special Citation; the prose and poetry collection, “The Latin Deli” (1993), winner of the Anisfield Wolf Award in Race Relations; and the short story collection, “An Island Like You: Stories of the Barrio” (1995), a Best Book of the Year of the American Library Association.

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.

KIM EDWARDS, AUTHOR OF THE RUNAWAY BESTSELLER, “THE MEMORY KEEPER’S DAUGHTER,” ABOUT A DOWN SYNDROME BABY ABANDONED AT BIRTH, TO READ SEPTEMBER 27, 2007

Kim Edwards, author of the runaway bestseller, “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” (2005), about a Down Syndrome baby abandoned at birth, will read from and discuss her work on Thursday, September 27, 2007 at 8:00 p.m. in Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, on the University at Albany’s downtown campus. Earlier that same day at 4:15 p.m. the author will present an informal seminar in the Assembly Hall, Campus Center, on the uptown campus. Sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute, the events are free and open to the public.

Kim Edwards is the author of the runaway bestseller, “The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” (2005), a novel that explores the consequences of a troubling family secret: a daughter with Down Syndrome who is abandoned at birth and raised in a different city by another family. Writing in the “Washington Post,” Ron Charles praised the book for its “extraordinary power and sympathy.” The “Chicago Tribune” reviewer said, “Edwards is a born novelist.... ‘The Memory Keeper’s Daughter’ is rich with psychological detail and the nuances of human connection.” The “Pittsburgh Post-Gazette” called it, “[A] masterfully written debut novel…a compelling story that explores universal themes: the secrets we harbor, even from those we love; our ability to rationalize all manner of lies; and our fear that there will always be something unknowable about the people we love most.”

“The Memory Keeper’s Daughter” sold modestly well in hardcover, but became a major publishing phenomenon in paperback in the summer of 2006, ultimately spending more than a year on the “New York Times” Paperback Bestseller List (as of June 2007). Regarding the novel’s unexpected word-of-mouth success, Susan Petersen Kennedy, president of Penguin Group USA, said, “something mysterious about this book is really seeping into people’s hearts and minds....”

Edwards is also the author of a short story collection, “The Secrets of a Fire King” (1997), a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, which is being re-released in 2007. The collection features the Nelson Algren Award-winning short story “Sky Juice,” the tale of a Malaysian woman who escapes prostitution by becoming a mail order bride. It also features the Pushcart Prize-winning story, “The Way It Felt to Be Falling,” about a 19-year-old girl with a depressed father and unstable boyfriend who copes with her own fear of madness by taking skydiving lessons. Other stories include “Gold,” about an impoverished Malaysian rubber tapper’s self-destructive quest for wealth; and “Spring, Mountain, Sea,” about an American serviceman who brings home a Korean bride after the war, only to discover that he, too, is culturally isolated—an immigrant in his own country.

The “New York Times Book Review” praised the collection for giving “eloquence to an astonishing range of discoveries” that “leaves the reader entranced.” Fiction writer Andrea Barrett said that Edwards’s “sinuous prose and endless empathy work their spell.... Radiant, original, and passionate, these are memorable stories.” “Publishers Weekly” said the “tales read like the work of a wise traveler who returns home with uncommon souvenirs from other lands.”

Edwards received the prestigious Whiting Writers Award in 2002. She teaches creative writing at the University of Kentucky in Lexington.

For additional information, contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst.

“SPRING IN A SMALL TOWN” TO BE SCREENED ON SEPTEMBER 28, 2007

“Spring in a Small Town” (“Xiao Cheng Zhi Chun,” China, 1948, 85 minutes, b/w, DVD, in Mandarin with English subtitles, directed by Mu Fei) will be shown on Friday, September 28, 2007 at 7:30 p.m. in Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue, on the University at Albany’s downtown campus. Sponsored by the New York State Writers Institute as part of UAlbany’s “China Semester” events, the screening is free and open to the public.

Filmed in China just prior to the Communist takeover, this celebrated work tells the delicately layered story of a woman torn between loyalty to her sick husband and the dashing doctor who was the lover of her youth. “Spring in a Small Town” has been named “the best Chinese language film of all time” by numerous critics and organizations, including the hong Kong Film Academy, the Hong Kong Film Critics Society, and “China Now” magazine.

The film will be screened in association with the University at Albany’s China Semester events.

For additional information contact the Writers Institute at 518-442-5620 or online at www.albany.edu/writers-inst.

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Posted Tuesday September 11, 2007 at 02:55 pm by New York State Writers Institute