DATE: 4: p.m. Dec. 4, 2009.

EVENT: “Say You’re One of Them,” A Conversation with Uwem Akpan.

PLACE: Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library, University of Michigan, 913 S. University, Library Gallery, Room 100.

BACKGROUND: Nigerian priest and University of Michigan MFA graduate Uwem Akpan’s short story collection, “Say You’re One of Them,” pays testament to the wisdom and resilience of children, even in the face of the most agonizing circumstances. A family living in a makeshift shanty in urban Kenya scurries to find gifts of any kind for the impending Christmas holiday. A Rwandan girl relates her family’s struggles to maintain a facade of normalcy amid unspeakable acts. Aboard a bus filled with refugees?a microcosm of today’s Africa?a Muslim boy summons his faith to bear a treacherous ride across Nigeria. Uwem Akpan’s debut signals the arrival of a breathtakingly talented writer who gives a matter-of-fact reality to the most extreme circumstances in stories that are nothing short of transcendent.

Uwem Akpan was born in Ikot Akpan Eda in southern Nigeria. After studying philosophy and English at Creighton and Gonzaga universities, he studied theology for three years at the Catholic University of Eastern Africa. He was ordained as a Jesuit priest in 2003 and received his MFA in creative writing from the University of Michigan in 2006. He worked on “Say You’re One of Them” while a Career-in-the-Making Fellow at the U-M Institute for the Humanities. “Say You’re One of Them” won the Commonwealth Writers’ Prize for Best First Book (Africa Region) 2009 and PEN/Beyond Margins Award 2009. In 2007, Akpan taught at a Jesuit college in Harare, Zimbabwe. Now he serves at Christ the King Church, Ilasamaja-Lagos, Nigeria.

SPONSORS: Presented by the Author’s Forum, a collaboration between the University Library, U-M MFA Writing Program and Zell Visiting Writers Series, U-M Institute for the Humanities, Great Lakes Literary Arts Center, and the Ann Arbor Book Festival. Additional sponsorship for this event provided by the U-M African Studies Center and the U-M Center for Afroamerican and African Studies.

Institute for the Humanities