Nonfiction Author to Launch UW MFA Program with Public Talk and Reading |
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Aug. 23, 2005 -- Nonfiction author Laurie Gunst launches the University of Wyoming's Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing Program with a campus talk and downtown reading of her work Aug. 30-31.
Gunst will discuss "The Agony and Ecstasy of Writing a Memoir about Race in America" at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 30, in the Mathison Library, Room 212 of Hoyt Hall. On Wednesday, Aug. 31, Gunst will read from her work and sign books at Second Story Books, 105 E. Ivinson Ave. Refreshments will be served at both events.
In her new memoir, "Off White," Gunst tells the story of growing up in a wealthy Jewish Southern family and her close relationship with her grandmother's maid who was summoned back to Virginia from New York City to raise her. The book ties the complexity of race relations to family connections. While tracing histories of herself and the maid, Gunst reveals the shame she feels toward her family's racially intolerant past.
Her highly-praised first book, "Born Fi' Dead: A Journey Through the Jamaican Posse Underworld," traces the emigration of political mercenary Jamaican street fighters and their involvement in the New York crack trade in the 1980s.
Gunst received her Ph.D. in Caribbean history from Harvard in 1982 and has taught a course in race relations at the New School in New York City. For more information, call Kris DeForest at (307) 766-2867.
The visit begins UW's creative writing masters program that admits its first students this fall. For more information about the program, call Ann McCutchan at (307) 766-5247 or e-mail annmcc@uwyo.edu.
Posted on Tuesday, August 23, 2005
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