Source: Elizabeth Dodd, 785-532-0384, edodd@k-state.edu
News release prepared by: Megan Wilson, 785-532-6415, media@k-state.edu

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

FEATURE FICTION WRITER HELENA MARIA VIRAMONTES TO PRESENT READING AT K-STATE

MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University's Visiting Writers Series will present a reading by feature fiction writer Helena Maria Viramontes at 4 p.m. Friday, April 10, in the Little Theater at the K-State Student Union.

The reading is free and open to the public. The Visiting Writers Series is sponsored by K-State's department of English.

Viramontes, a professor of English at Cornell University, is the author of "The Moths and Other Stories," "Under the Feet of Jesus" and "Their Dogs Came With Them," as well as numerous short stories and articles. "Under the Feet of Jesus" received the New Voice Quality Paperback Book award in 2005 and was a finalist for the Discover Great New Writers award in 1996. She also has co-edited two collections, "Chicana Creativity and Criticism" and "Chicana (W)rites: On Word and Film."

Viramontes has been honored by the National Endowment for the Arts, received a fellowship from the Sundance Institute, was awarded the John Dos Passos Prize for Literature in 1996 and named a USA Ford Fellow by United States Artists in 2007.