Tina Chang, Susan Choi and Monique Truong to Deliver This Year's Prestigious Paumanok Lecture on American Literature and Culture at LIU Brooklyn's Kumble Theater

BROOKLYN, N.Y., Feb. 14, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- Long Island University is proud to announce that acclaimed writers Tina Chang, Susan Choi and Monique Truong will deliver this year's "Starting from Paumanok" lecture, at Kumble Theater on LIU's Brooklyn campus on Monday, March 2^nd at 6:30 p.m.

This annual event takes its name from a poem by Walt Whitman which first appeared in the 1860 edition of Leaves of the Grass. Its title invokes the Native American word for Long Island and acknowledges the University's geographic and cultural connection to one of Brooklyn's—and Long Island's—foremost literary figures. Among those who've previously appeared in this lecture series are the novelists John Keene, Sandra Cisneros, Gary Shteyngart and Edwidge Danticat; the poets Claudia Rankine and Tracy K. Smith; and the playwright Lynn Nottage.

With ongoing support from the Mellon Foundation fund and LIU's John P. McGrath Fund, the Paumanok lecture is presented by the Department of English, Philosophy and Languages at LIU Brooklyn. Following the talk by Tina Chang, Susan Choi and Monique Truong, Professor Louis Parascandola will join the authors on stage for a short interview before taking questions from the audience. Afterwards, the authors will sign books in the Kumble Theater lobby, thanks to a partnership with Greenlight Books in Brooklyn. The lecture is free and open to the public.

About the Authors:

Tina Chang is an American poet, teacher, and editor. In 2010, she was the first woman to be named Poet Laureate of Brooklyn and she continues to serve in this role. She is the author of three poetry collections: Hybrida (W. W. Norton, May 2019), Of Gods & Strangers (Four Way Books, 2011), and Half-Lit Houses (Four Way Books, 2004). She is the co-editor of the seminal anthology Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond (W.W. Norton, 2008), which was hailed as, "One of the 10 greatest international anthologies, a timeless resource" by the Academy of American Poets, and was praised by the Financial Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Washington Post, Poets & Writers and many other periodicals. Chang's own work has been published in The New York Times and Ploughshares among others, and has been featured in the anthologies Asian American Poetry: The Next Generation and Identity Lessons: Contemporary Writing About Learning to Be American (Penguin Books). Tina Chang received her MFA in poetry from Columbia University. She teaches poetry at Sarah Lawrence College.

Susan Choi's first novel, The Foreign Student (2004), won the Asian-American Literary Award for fiction. Her second novel, American Woman, was a finalist for the 2004 Pulitzer Prize. Her third novel, A Person of Interest, was a finalist for the 2009 PEN/Faulkner Award. In 2010, she was named the inaugural recipient of the PEN/W.G. Sebald Award. Her fourth novel, My Education, received a 2014 Lammy Award. Her fifth novel is Trust Exercise (April 2019) and her first book for children is Camp Tiger (May 2019). A recipient of fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation, she teaches fiction writing at Yale and lives in Brooklyn.

Born in Saigon, South Vietnam, Monique Truong came to the U.S. as a refugee in 1975. She is a writer based now in Brooklyn, New York. Her first novel, The Book of Salt (Houghton Mifflin, 2003), was a national bestseller and the recipient of the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award, Bard Fiction Prize, PEN/Robert W. Bingham Fellowship, Stonewall Book Award-Barbara Gittings Literature Award, PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles National Literary Award, Association for Asian American Studies Poetry/Prose Award, and an Asian American Literary Award. In 2003, The Book of Salt was honored as a New York Times Notable Fiction Book, a Chicago Tribune Favorite Fiction Books, a Village Voice's 25 Favorite Books, and a Miami Herald's Top 10 Books, among other citations. Her second novel, Bitter in the Mouth (Random House, 2010), received the American Academy of Arts and Letters' Rosenthal Family Foundation Award and was named in 2010 as a 25 Best Fiction Books by Barnes & Noble, a 10 Best Fiction Books by Hudson Booksellers, and the adult fiction Honor Book by the Asian Pacific American Librarians Association. Her third novel, The Sweetest Fruits (Viking Books, 2019), was named a best fiction of the year by Publishers Weekly, PopMatters, and Mental Floss.

For more information on the Paumanok lecture series, contact Leah Dilworth, Professor of English and Chair of the Department of English, Philosophy, and Languages at LIU Brooklyn, 718.488.1050; [email protected]

About Long Island University (LIU)
LIU, founded in 1926, continues to redefine higher education, providing high quality academic instruction by world-class faculty. Recognized by Forbes for its emphasis on experiential learning and by the Brookings Institution for its "value added" to student outcomes, LIU offers more than 320 academic programs, with a network of over 265,000 alumni including industry leaders and entrepreneurs across the globe. LIU's renowned faculty, innovation in engaged learning, and strong career outcomes distinguish LIU as a leader among the nation's most respected universities. Visit liu.edu for more information.

SOURCE Long Island University

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