A Conversation on Race, Writing and Culture with Zadie Smith

November 13, 2014

5:00PM - 6:30PM

Mershon Auditorium

Add to Calendar 2014-11-13 18:00:00 2014-11-13 19:30:00 A Conversation on Race, Writing and Culture with Zadie Smith THE PRESIDENT AND PROVOST'S DIVERSITY LECTURE & CULTURAL ARTS SERIES co-presented by The Humanities InstitutePhoto by Dominique NabokovNovelist Zadie Smith was born in North London in 1975 to an English father and a Jamaican mother. She read English at Cambridge, graduating in 1997. Her acclaimed first novel, White Teeth (2000), is a vibrant portrait of contemporary multicultural London, told through the story of three ethnically diverse families. The book won a number of awards and prizes, including the Guardian First Book Award, the Whitbread First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best First Book), and two BT Ethnic and Multicultural Media Awards (Best Book/Novel and Best Female Media Newcomer). It was also shortlisted for the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Author’s Club First Novel Award. White Teeth has been translated into over twenty languages and was adapted for Channel 4 television for broadcast in autumn 2002. Her tenure as Writer in Residence at the Institute of Contemporary Arts resulted in the publication of an anthology of erotic stories entitled Piece of Flesh (2001).More recently, she has written the introduction for The Burned Children of America (2003), acollection of eighteen short stories by a new generation of young American writers.Zadie Smith’s second novel, The Autograph Man (2002), a story of loss, obsession and thenature of celebrity, won the 2003 Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize for Fiction. In 2003 and2013 she was named by Granta magazine as one of 20 ‘Best of Young British Novelists’. Herthird novel, On Beauty, was published in 2005, and won the 2006 Orange Prize for Fiction. She has also written a nonfiction book about writing entitled Fail Better (2006). Her book, Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, came out in 2009. Her novel, NW (2012) was named as one of the New York Times ‘10 Best Books of 2012.’ Zadie Smith is currently a tenured professor of Creative Writing at New York University.This event is co-sponsored with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Wexner Center for the Arts, and the MFA Program in Creative Writing in the Department of English.“Smith has an astonishing intellect. She writes sharp dialogue for every age and race—and she’s funny as hell.”—Newsweek“Zadie Smith is not merely one of Britain’s finest younger writers, but also one of theEnglish-speaking world’s best chroniclers of race, class, and identity in urban confines.Smith remains fearless, and there are moments that astonish. Her ambition and talent continue to awe.”—Philadelphia Inquirer“Endlessly fascinating...remarkable....The impression of Smith’s casual brilliance is what constantly surprises, the way she tosses off insights about parenting and work that you’ve felt in some nebulous way but never been able to articulate.”— The Washington PostSteven Barclay Agency12 Western AvenuePetaluma, California 94952 t e l 707.773.0654f a x 707.778.1868info@barclayagency.com www.barclayagency.com Mershon Auditorium OSU ASC Drupal 8 ascwebservices@osu.edu America/New_York public

Add to Calendar 2014-11-13 17:00:00 2014-11-13 18:30:00 A Conversation on Race, Writing and Culture with Zadie Smith THE PRESIDENT AND PROVOST'S DIVERSITY LECTURE & CULTURAL ARTS SERIES co-presented by The Humanities InstitutePhoto by Dominique NabokovNovelist Zadie Smith was born in North London in 1975 to an English father and a Jamaican mother. She read English at Cambridge, graduating in 1997. Her acclaimed first novel, White Teeth (2000), is a vibrant portrait of contemporary multicultural London, told through the story of three ethnically diverse families. The book won a number of awards and prizes, including the Guardian First Book Award, the Whitbread First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best First Book), and two BT Ethnic and Multicultural Media Awards (Best Book/Novel and Best Female Media Newcomer). It was also shortlisted for the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Author’s Club First Novel Award. White Teeth has been translated into over twenty languages and was adapted for Channel 4 television for broadcast in autumn 2002. Her tenure as Writer in Residence at the Institute of Contemporary Arts resulted in the publication of an anthology of erotic stories entitled Piece of Flesh (2001).More recently, she has written the introduction for The Burned Children of America (2003), acollection of eighteen short stories by a new generation of young American writers.Zadie Smith’s second novel, The Autograph Man (2002), a story of loss, obsession and thenature of celebrity, won the 2003 Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize for Fiction. In 2003 and2013 she was named by Granta magazine as one of 20 ‘Best of Young British Novelists’. Herthird novel, On Beauty, was published in 2005, and won the 2006 Orange Prize for Fiction. She has also written a nonfiction book about writing entitled Fail Better (2006). Her book, Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, came out in 2009. Her novel, NW (2012) was named as one of the New York Times ‘10 Best Books of 2012.’ Zadie Smith is currently a tenured professor of Creative Writing at New York University.This event is co-sponsored with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Wexner Center for the Arts, and the MFA Program in Creative Writing in the Department of English.“Smith has an astonishing intellect. She writes sharp dialogue for every age and race—and she’s funny as hell.”—Newsweek“Zadie Smith is not merely one of Britain’s finest younger writers, but also one of theEnglish-speaking world’s best chroniclers of race, class, and identity in urban confines.Smith remains fearless, and there are moments that astonish. Her ambition and talent continue to awe.”—Philadelphia Inquirer“Endlessly fascinating...remarkable....The impression of Smith’s casual brilliance is what constantly surprises, the way she tosses off insights about parenting and work that you’ve felt in some nebulous way but never been able to articulate.”— The Washington PostSteven  Barclay  Agency12  Western  AvenuePetaluma, California  94952 t e l   707.773.0654f a x  707.778.1868info@barclayagency.com www.barclayagency.com Mershon Auditorium Humanities Institute huminst@osu.edu America/New_York public

THE PRESIDENT AND PROVOST'S DIVERSITY LECTURE & CULTURAL ARTS SERIES co-presented by The Humanities Institute

Photo by Dominique Nabokov

Novelist Zadie Smith was born in North London in 1975 to an English father and a Jamaican mother. She read English at Cambridge, graduating in 1997. Her acclaimed first novel, White Teeth (2000), is a vibrant portrait of contemporary multicultural London, told through the story of three ethnically diverse families. The book won a number of awards and prizes, including the Guardian First Book Award, the Whitbread First Novel Award, the Commonwealth Writers Prize (Overall Winner, Best First Book), and two BT Ethnic and Multicultural Media Awards (Best Book/Novel and Best Female Media Newcomer). It was also shortlisted for the Mail on Sunday/John Llewellyn Rhys Prize, the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Author’s Club First Novel Award. White Teeth has been translated into over twenty languages and was adapted for Channel 4 television for broadcast in autumn 2002. Her tenure as Writer in Residence at the Institute of Contemporary Arts resulted in the publication of an anthology of erotic stories entitled Piece of Flesh (2001).

More recently, she has written the introduction for The Burned Children of America (2003), a
collection of eighteen short stories by a new generation of young American writers.
Zadie Smith’s second novel, The Autograph Man (2002), a story of loss, obsession and the
nature of celebrity, won the 2003 Jewish Quarterly Literary Prize for Fiction. In 2003 and
2013 she was named by Granta magazine as one of 20 ‘Best of Young British Novelists’. Her
third novel, On Beauty, was published in 2005, and won the 2006 Orange Prize for Fiction. She has also written a nonfiction book about writing entitled Fail Better (2006). Her book, Changing My Mind: Occasional Essays, came out in 2009. Her novel, NW (2012) was named as one of the New York Times ‘10 Best Books of 2012.’ Zadie Smith is currently a tenured professor of Creative Writing at New York University.

This event is co-sponsored with the Office of Diversity and Inclusion, the Wexner Center for the Arts, and the MFA Program in Creative Writing in the Department of English.

“Smith has an astonishing intellect. She writes sharp dialogue for every age and race—and she’s funny as hell.”
—Newsweek

“Zadie Smith is not merely one of Britain’s finest younger writers, but also one of the
English-speaking world’s best chroniclers of race, class, and identity in urban confines.
Smith remains fearless, and there are moments that astonish. Her ambition and talent continue to awe.”
—Philadelphia Inquirer

“Endlessly fascinating...remarkable....The impression of Smith’s casual brilliance is what constantly surprises, the way she tosses off insights about parenting and work that you’ve felt in some nebulous way but never been able to articulate.”
— The Washington Post

Steven Barclay Agency
12 Western Avenue
Petaluma, California 94952 t e l 707.773.0654
f a x 707.778.1868
info@barclayagency.com www.barclayagency.com