Brooklyn Voices Literary Series to Host Sapphire and Junot Diaz

October 14, 2012

BROOKLYN, NY October 15, 2012 - The Writers Foundry at St. Joseph's College, in conjunction with Greenlight Bookstore and the Brooklyn Rail, will welcome two of the nation's most dynamic writers to its Brooklyn Campus this fall as part of its Brooklyn Voices lecture series.

Pulitzer-Prize winner and MacArthur Foundation fellow Junot Diaz, author of This is How You Lose Her, will speak on Thursday, November 15 at 7:30 p.m. Sapphire, author of The Kid, and a member of the Writers Foundry faculty, will discuss the art of writing on Thursday, December 6 at 6:30 p.m. Both events will take place in the Tuohy Hall Auditorium at St. Josephs College and are free and open to the public.

"Hosting two brilliant writers such as Sapphire and Junot Diaz in a span of three weeks is an example of the vibrant, creative community we have created for our students here at St. Josephs College, stated Dr. Richard Greenwald, academic dean of the School of Arts and Sciences on the Brooklyn Campus.

"As we lay down the foundation for the Writers Foundry, our new M.F.A., we seek to provide the community a glimpse of what can be expected from this new program when it launches next fall.

For the first lecture of this years Brooklyn Voices series, St. Josephs will host Pulitzer-prize winning author Junot Diaz, who will discuss his latest book. In this work, This is How You Lose Her, Daz turns his remarkable talent to the haunting, impossible power of love obsessive love, illicit love, fading love, maternal love. In prose that is endlessly energetic, inventive, tender, and funny, the stories in This Is How You Lose Her lay bare the infinite longing and inevitable weakness of the human heart. The recent recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, Diaz is also the author of the Pulitzer-award winning The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao and Drown.

On December 6, Sapphire will discuss her perspective on the art of writing and of the influences that inspire her work. Her first novel, Push, sold hundreds of thousands of copies and was the basis of the Academy Award-nominated film Precious. In her latest work, The Kid, Sapphire tells the electrifying story of Abdul Jones, the son of Push's unforgettable heroine, Precious. Left alone to navigate a world in which love and hate sometimes hideously masquerade, forced to confront unspeakable violence, his history, and the dark corners of his own heart, Abdul claws his way toward adulthood and toward an identity he can stand behind.

Created in collaboration with Greenlight Bookstore, and the Brooklyn Rail, the aim of the Brooklyn Voices series is to promote and enhance the creative vitality of our home neighborhoods of Fort Greene and Clinton Hill. Through lectures, forums, performances, and public discussion, Brooklyn Voices seeks to make a meaningful contribution to the thriving intellectual culture of the neighborhood and ensure that our community remains a stimulating place in which to live, learn and do business.

For any questions regarding these events or St. Josephs College in general, contact Director of Public Affairs Michael Banach at 718.940.5584.