Award-Winning African Novelist Presents 'Web of Words' at Washington College

Chestertown, MD — Award-winning novelist Nuruddin Farah, widely considered the greatest living African writer and among the top writers in the world, will present "Caught in a Web of Words" at Washington College's Hynson Lounge on Thursday, April 10, at 7:30 p.m.

The lecture is being presented by the Goldstein Program in Public Affairs.

Farah, the first-ever PEN World Voices/Washington College Fellow in International Letters, is here in collaboration with the PEN American Center, the premier literary and human rights organization, and Washington College's Rose O'Neill Literary House. He is currently in the midst of a four-week visit to Washington College, where he is sharing insights on the writing life and giving various public presentations.

Born in Somalia in 1945, Farah was forced to flee his home region in 1963 and now lives in South Africa. His current U.S. sojourn is part of the fourth annual PEN World Voices Festival of International Literature, being held this month in New York City and diverse satellite locations.

Farah's acclaimed novels—including the trilogies Variations on the Theme of an African Dictatorship and Blood in the Sun—tell the stories of his homeland, of diaspora, and of the struggle for dignity, identity and community. The New York Review of Books has praised Farah as "one of the most sophisticated voices in modern fiction."

Farah's novels have been translated into 17 languages and have won numerous awards. He was named the 1998 Laureate of the Neustadt International Prize for Literature, described by the New York Times as "the most prestigious award after the Nobel."

The Louis L. Goldstein Program in Public Affairs was established in 1990 to encourage students to enter public service by introducing them to exemplary leaders, both in and out of government. The Goldstein Program has hosted journalists, authors, political activists, foreign policy analysts, diplomats, military commanders and government officials of both national and international stature.

The Goldstein Program sponsors lectures, symposia, visiting fellows, student participation in models and conferences, and other projects that bring students and faculty together with leading voices from the international sphere.

Hynson Lounge is located in Hodson Hall. Admission to "Caught in a Web of Words" is free and open to the public.

March 31, 2008