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Award-Winning Author to For Immediate Release: 
Dinaw Mengestu is the recipient of the National Book Foundation's 5 Under 35 Award and is the author of The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears. RICHMOND, Ind. — Dinaw Mengestu will read from and speak about his award-winning debut novel The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears during Earlham College's opening convocation. The presentation, which is also part of Earlham's annual Charles Lecture Series on ethics, begins at 1 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 10, in Carpenter Hall's Goddard Auditorium. Admission is free and open to the public. With themes that include immigration, race, class and social engagement across cultural lines, The Beautiful Things That Heaven Bears won the 2007 Guardian First Book Award, the New York Times Notable Book Award, and was selected as the required summer reading for Earlham's first-year students. Mengestu says that the novel, which tells the story of Ethiopian émigré Sepha Stephanos, the loss of his family and the process of creating a new home for himself are relevant to all. Related Links: "Finding a place and a sense of home is part of a fairly common universal struggle that we all go through, and it's not something that is distinct to immigrants," Mengestu says. "I would hope that most readers would find a sense of people trying to find connections with each other when they read the novel." Although Mengestu was born in Ethiopia in 1978 and immigrated to the United States in 1980, he says Sepha's fictional account is drastically different from anything that he has experienced. Mengestu is a graduate of Georgetown and Columbia universities and lives in New York. Convocation Series Continues Earlham's next convocation features Majora Carter presenting "Green the Ghetto — Why, How and What Happens if We Don't" on Sept. 17. Carter creates new opportunities for transportation, fitness, recreation, nutrition and green-collar economic development in the south Bronx area where she was raised and continues to live. She is founder and chief advisor of Sustainable South Bronx and founder and president of Majora Carter Group, LLC. On Oct. 1, Arlene Inouye presents "Creating a Movement to Demilitarize Schools and Present Peaceful Alternatives." Inouye is coordinator and founder of Coalition Against Militarism in the Schools. Her lecture discusses how the military presence and influence continues to increase in schools across America and the implementation of possible alternatives. Arjun Makhijani visits Earlham to present "Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy" on Oct. 15. Makhijani is a recognized authority on energy issues specializing in nuclear fusion. He is president and senior engineer of the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research at the University of California at Berkeley. During the Nov. 12 convocation, Agnes Wilcox, artistic director for Prison Performing Arts presents "Crime is Easy; Shakespeare is Hard." Wilcox reflects on what she has learned from her students, who are incarcerated men, women and adolescents; what the actors say they have learned from her; and the power of Shakespeare for all audiences. Concluding the fall series of convocation lectures is Quaker author/musician Bill Harley and singer/songwriter Carrie Newcomer presenting "That's My Job" on Dec. 3. The light-hearted presentation explores the ideas of work, career, calling and vocation. All-College Convocations provide a forum for community-wide intellectual discourse upon topics of interest or concern. Speakers are selected to represent a broad diversity, reflecting political, social, and cultural viewpoints that challenge and/or engage the community. All convocations are free and open to the public. They begin at 1 p.m. in Carpenter Hall's Goddard Auditorium. — EC — Contact:
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Earlham
College · 801 National Road West · Richmond,
Indiana 47374-4095 |