Purchase College to Host Esteemed Author Edwidge Danticat
Purchase College-SUNY will present A Reading with Edwidge Danticat on Tuesday, March 17, at 4:30 p.m. The program, which is free and open to the public, will take place at Purchase College in the Humanities Theatre, Humanities Building (735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY). Danticat, one of the world’s most beloved authors, was named Purchase College’s 2019-20 Roy and Shirley Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature.
On March 17, Danticat will be reading from her latest collection, Everything Inside. The much-lauded author recently received a host of new honors. She was awarded the prestigious 2020 Vilcek Prize in Literature—given to immigrants who have made outstanding contributions in contemporary literature—for her work that explores the Haitian diaspora and other personal narratives. In addition, she was named a member of the venerable American Academy of Arts and Letters and became the first two-time winner of the prestigious Story Prize for short fiction.
Born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Edwidge Danticat is a leading global writer whose books include: Breath, Eyes, Memory, an Oprah Book Club selection, and Krik? Krak!, a finalist for the National Book Award. Her memoir, Brother, I’m Dying, was a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography, while her other honors include a MacArthur Fellowship and the 2017 Neustadt International Prize for Literature.
As a small public college, Purchase is proud to introduce students to the level of expertise provided by the Durst Distinguished Lectures. The roster of current and past Durst Lecturers have won an impressive array of the highest level of literary honors, including National Book Awards, MacArthur Foundation Grants, Pulitzer Prizes, Guggenheim Foundation Fellowships, and Man Booker Prizes for Fiction.
This season of Durst lectures will conclude with Christopher Feliciano Arnold on April 20. For more information, please visit: https://www.purchase.edu/academics/school-of-humanities/lectures/durst-distinguished-lectures/ or call 914.251.6550.
The Durst Distinguished Lecture Series and the Roy and Shirley Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature are funded by the Roy and Shirley Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature Endowment. The mission of the Durst programs is to infuse the experience and intellect of leading writers into the Purchase community, while providing diverse opportunities for these writers to interact with students and influence campus life.
About Purchase College-SUNY
Purchase College, part of the State University of New York (SUNY) network of 64 universities and colleges, was founded in 1967 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller. His aspirations for Purchase were to combine on one campus conservatory training in the visual and performing arts with programs in the liberal arts and sciences. Today, Purchase College-SUNY is a community of students, faculty, and friends where open-minded engagement with the creative process leads to a lifetime of intellectual growth and professional opportunity. For more information about the College, visit www.purchase.edu
About Performing Arts Center
Experience. Something. Real. The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College, a four-theater complex located on the campus of Purchase College, SUNY, is the major professional, non-profit arts presenter in the region. The Center presents a broad range of professional performances that engage, challenge, and educate as well as entertain, offering world-class music, dance, theatre, comedy, film, and family programming to audiences from throughout the region. Music presenting ranges from classical to pop and features the leading artists of our time as well as emerging stars; as the major regional presenter of dance, programs have included only area appearances of several important traditional, contemporary, and folkloric companies; theatre presentations reflect a deep commitment to presenting innovative ensembles. The Center’s on-going initiatives also encompass artist partnerships, residency activities, and commissions; creating opportunities for students to participate in the artistic process; increasing educational opportunities in the arts for k -12 students and multi-generational learners; and revitalizing efforts in the community to make the arts more accessible to broad and diverse audiences. Box Office Hours: Tuesday – Friday, Noon – 6 p.m., Weekends and evenings before performances.