Minnesota State Write Like Us Presents Author Brit Bennett! (free event)

11200 Mississippi Boulevard,Coon Rapids MN 55433

21 April, 2022

Description

Minnesota State Write Like Us presents author Brit Bennett at Anoka-Ramsey Community College Thursday, April 21 from 2 - 3 p.m. Write Like Us is proud to present best-selling novelist Brit Bennett, author of The Vanishing Half and The Mothers, for a free public reading and interview. Bennett will read from her creative work, followed by an interview by author Saymoukda Duangphouxay Vongsay. Tickets are free and open to the public. Attendees are required to wear a face mask and follow all relevant Minnesota State COVID-19 mandates. Write Like Us is an equity-based creative writing program at five Twin Cities metro-area community colleges: Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Century College, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, Normandale Community College, and North Hennepin Community College. Write Like Us centers and celebrates the work of BIPOC writers and writing students, fostering literary mentorship and leadership as it builds a platform for shared stories, voices, and lived experiences. For more information about Write Like Us and our other author events, see Write Like Us. For more information about Anoka-Ramsey's AFA and Certificate in Creative Writing, see Anoka-Ramsey Community College Creative Writing. For programming questions or press, please contact [email protected]. Photo of Brit Bennett by Emma Trim. ABOUT BRIT BENNETT When Brit Bennett’s debut novel The Mothers was published in the fall of 2016, critics and readers were immediately dazzled by this exciting new voice in literary fiction. Bennett was named a 5 Under 35 honoree by the National Book Foundation and the book was longlisted for the NBCC John Leonard First Novel Prize and the PEN/Robert W. Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction. The Mothers is a surprising story about young love and the things that ultimately haunt us most. Set within a contemporary Black community in Southern California, Bennett’s first novel is an emotionally perceptive story about ambition, community, and love. In the New York Times #1 bestseller and Good Morning America June Book Club pick, The Vanishing Half, Bennett returns the readers to California for another emotionally perceptive story. This engrossing page-turner, longlisted for both the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medals for Excellence in Fiction and the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction, explores the lasting influence of the past as it shapes a person’s decisions, desires, and expectations. In her talks and her work, she examines the role writing plays in documenting racial injustice and contemporary Black experience. Before publishing her novel, Brit Bennett had already built an impressive platform as a social commentator. Her essay in Jezebel, following the Ferguson riots, was shared over a million times. Since then she has been invited to write several Op-Eds in the New York Times, and appeared on NPR’s The Brian Lehrer show. Her work has also been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, and The Paris Review. While an undergraduate at Stanford, she won the Bocock/ Guerard and Robert M. Golden Thesis prizes for her fiction. Earning her MFA at University of Michigan, she won a Hopwood Award in Graduate Short Fiction as well as the 2014 Hurston/ Wright Award in College Writing. For more information about Brit Bennett, visit https://britbennett.com/ Minnesota State Write Like Us is an equity-based creative writing program at five Twin Cities metro-area community colleges: Anoka-Ramsey Community College, Century College, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, Normandale Community College, and North Hennepin Community College. Minnesota State Write Like Us centers and celebrates the work of BIPOC writers and writing students, fostering literary mentorship and leadership as it builds a platform for shared stories, voices, and lived experiences. Five nationally prominent BIPOC authors will appear for public readings and on-stage interviews in March and April 2022, one author at each of the five participating colleges: Tracy K. Smith Smith will appear for a public event at Century College on Tuesday, March 29 at 6:30 p.m.Tommy Orange will appear for a public event at Normandale Community College on Tuesday, April 5 at 1:30 p.m.Hanif Abdurraqib will appear for a public event at Minneapolis Community and Technical College on Tuesday, April 12 at 3:30 p.m.Brit Bennett will appear for a public event at Anoka-Ramsey Community College on Thursday, April 21at 2 p.m.Kiese Laymon will appear for a public event at North Hennepin Community College on Thursday, April 28 at 6 p.m.All events are free and open to the public. Please sign up for your free ticket for each event in Eventbrite with Write Like Us.