Award-winning memoirist to speak at St. Norbert College's annual Literary Awards

Friday, April 15 from 5:30-7 p.m.

From St. Norbert College, March 22, 2011
by Chelsey Gruetzmacher, chelsey.gruetzmacher@snc.edu, (920) 403-3089

Memoirist Kao Kalia Yang, author of The Latehomecomer, will appear as a guest speaker at the St. Norbert College 2011 Literary Awards on Friday, April 15 from 5:30-7 p.m. in the Fort Howard Theatre, in the Bemis International Center. The event is free and open to the public.

Yang's bestselling memoir has received praise from such authorities as Publishers Weekly, the Library Journal, and the Minneapolis Star Tribune. While focusing on her own family's story of identity and survival, she chronicles the struggles of Hmong people in America, from the overcrowded refugee camps of Thailand to adjusting to American culture. Yang is a graduate of Carleton College and Columbia University, and co-founded Words Wanted, an agency dedicated to helping immigrants with writing, translating, and business services.

Awards for creative prose, poetry, and critical essays will be presented, as will the college's Mary McHale Wood Endowed Scholarship for Excellence in Writing and the Junior English Award. A reception and book signing by Yang will follow the awards ceremony.

For more information, contact Laurie MacDiarmid, associate professor of English, at 920-403-3498 or at laurie.macdiarmid@snc.edu.