ECU to host a Southern Literary Celebration
East Carolina University will celebrate an evening of Southern literature hosted by The North Carolina Literary Review and the Thomas Harriot College of Arts and Sciences Whichard Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities.
Monique Truong, bestselling and award-winning author, will visit ECU on Oct. 1, in the Main Campus Student Center’s Black Box Theater.
Beginning at 6 p.m., Truong will participate in a writer’s reception featuring an intimate interview and discussion led by Dr. Kirstin Squint, Whichard Professor, and Dr. Margaret Bauer, NCLR editor and ECU professor of English.
Following the reception, at 7 p.m. Truong will read from her newest novel, “The Sweetest Fruits,” and a book signing will conclude the evening’s events.
Both events are free and open to the public. Space is limited for the reception, so an RSVP is required. RSVP to THCAS@ecu.edu or 252-737-1755. Parking is available for $1/hour in the new parking deck located behind the Main Campus Student Center at 501 East 10th St. The deck is accessible by turning down Student Center Way.
Truong was born in Saigon, South Vietnam. Traveling with her family, Truong came to the United States as a refugee in 1975, at the age of 7. They established a home in Boiling Springs, North Carolina.
In a 2015 NCLR interview with Truong, she said that her experience as an Asian American in North Carolina formed her identity as an author.
“I had a new language, but I also was so ostracized and had become so emotionally awkward and shy that I had few reasons to use it,” said Truong. “Language and silence, those two things I think, in one form or another, are at the core of my writing.”
More information about Truong is available at http://monique-truong.com/.
###
ECU News Services
Howard House, 1001 E. Fifth Street
Greenville, NC 27858
ecunews@ecu.edu
Phone: 252-328-6481
news.ecu.edu
Contact: Dr. Kirstin Squint, Whichard Distinguished Visiting Professor in the Humanities, squintk19@ecu.edu, 252-328-6723