Science-fiction writer Hopkinson to speak April 13

Award-winning and internationally known science fiction writer Nalo Hopkinson will deliver a public reading from her new novel “The New Moon’s Arms” at 7 p.m. April 13 in the Pond Student Union Building Salmon River Room.

The event is free and open to the public. A book signing will follow. The public is invited.

Hopkinson is a leading member of a new generation of writers who combine interest in speculative fiction with literary distinction and acute cultural awareness. Hopkinson grew up in Jamaica and Trinidad, lives in Canada, is the daughter of well-known Guyanese poet Slade Hopkinson. She has edited two anthologies of stories based in Caribbean and African-American magical traditions and another of post-colonial science fiction, “So Long Been Dreaming” (Arsenal Pulp Publishers, 2004) and “Whispers from the Cotton Tree Root” (Invisible Cities Publisher, 2000).

In addition to her new novel she has published four other novels: “The Salt Road” (Warner Books, 2003), “Skin Folk” (Aspect, 2001), “Midnight Robber”(Arsenal, 2000), and “Brown Girl in the Ring” (Aspect, 1998). She has published a book of short stories,”Mojo: Conjure Stories” (Aspect, 2003). She has received the John W. Campbell Award, the Sunburst Award for Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, the World Fantasy Award, and the Ontario Arts Foundation Award.

For more information on this public reading, contact Leif Sorensen at soreleif@isu.edu, or Brian Norman, normbria@isu.edu.

For more information on Nalo visit her Web site www.sff.net/people/nalo/.

At noon Saturday, April 14, in the PSUB Salmon River Room Hopkinson will deliver the lecture “Maybe They're Phasing Us In: re-mapping fantasy tropes in the face of gender, race, and sexuality.” This is the lunchtime keynote address for the ISU English Graduate Student Association Conference. The lunch will be served to register conference participants; however, her keynote address starting at about 12:30 p.m. is open to ISU students and the public. For more information on this lecture and conference, contact Michael Stubbs, stubmich@isu.edu.

Nalo’s visit is sponsored by the Cultural Affairs Council, ASISU, English Graduate Student Association, Janet C. Anderson Gender Resource Center, Women’s Studies, Department of English & Philosophy, American Studies.