Visiting Authors Come to Upper School
CA is well known for its amazing SPEAK events, which bring exciting, nationally-known guest speakers to campus every year. In the Upper School we have another ongoing commitment to bring additional guests to our division, helping our students and faculty appreciate diverse points of view and exposing them to successful scholars, academics and leaders.
In that light I am excited to announce a Visiting Authors Series this year that will begin this Friday, October 3. First up in the series is Deji Olukotun who will be traveling to Denver from New York where he is the Freedom to Write Fellow at the PEN American Center.
I first became aware of Deji’s work last October when I traveled to the Neustadt Award presentation at the University of Oklahoma. He was one of several jurors invited to be involved in the selection process for the 2014 Neustadt Prize winner (for more on this program, see our most recent "on CAmpus" newsletter). He and the other jurors were given a special opportunity to read from their work, and I was particularly impressed with Deji’s prose taken from his novel Nigerians in Space. His background as both a human rights attorney and published author in fiction and non-fiction also intrigued me. At that point, I hoped I would be able to bring him out to Colorado Academy.
Typically, visiting authors will go to individual classrooms, speak at Town Halls or grade-level gatherings, and provide readings of their work. If applicable they will also make appearances in other divisions, as Deji will do in the Middle School. We want students to see what it is like to be a working writer and citizen of the world; all of our guests have multiple talents and have made interesting and inspirational journeys to get where they are today.
Please see the Downloads section for more information about Deji Olukotun and the other authors who will come to the Upper School this year.
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