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Award-winning writer to speak at Washington County Public Library
Benaron, whose debut novel gained a lot of international attention, including winning the Bellwether Prize for the best first novel about social justice. The biennial prize is sponsored by Barbara Kingsolver. The novel is set in Rwanda, before the genocide, and follows the dreams of one hopeful young African runner, Jean Patrick, who dreams of competing in the Olympics. As he tries to ignore his Tutsi ethnic identity, his world grows increasingly restrictive for his people and violent for his family. Jean Patrick wants to believe that his running career can deliver him from the conflict.
Benaron's first career was in seismology and geophysiology, and she earned a MFA in fiction from Antioch University in Los Angeles. She has a short story collection, "Love Letters from a Fat Man," that won the 2006 Sharat Chandra Prize for Fiction. Benaron is a marathon runner and Ironman triathlete and says on her website, naomibenaron.com, that "my best lines come to me when I am in motion."
For more information about the library, visit www.wcpl.net or call 276-676-6222. The Washington County Public Library is located at 205 Oak Hill St., Abingdon, Va. Its four branches are located in Damascus, Glade Spring, Hayters Gap and Mendota.
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