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Hamilton College will host an International Writers Week, featuring readings by award-winning contemporary international novelist A.S. Byatt, poet Ishion Hutchinson, and novelist Kamila Shamsie ’94, on Feb. 26 – March 2. All the events are free and open to the public.

Among highlights, Byatt will give the keynote reading on Friday, March 1, and Shamsie and Hutchinson will give readings and participate in a panel on Saturday, March 2.  The week will also include an international book fair spotlighting recommendations made by faculty from across the campus, a film screening, Jamaican breakfast, Harry Potter trivia, and tea and scones. For more information, go to www.hamilton.edu/creativewriting.

A.S. Byatt has been hailed by some as one of the greatest postmodern novelists in Britain. She achieved bestseller status in the United States in 1990 with her Booker Prize-winning novel Possession: A Romance, a story about a clandestine love affair between two Victorian writers and the two modern-day academics who unearth their secret; the novel was made into a film directed by Neil LaBute in 2002. Her latest novel, The Children’s Book, was shortlisted for both the Booker Prize and the South African Boeke Prize. In 2010, The Children’s Book won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. Byatt’s most recent book is Ragnarok - the End of the Gods.

Ishion Hutchinson was born in Port Antonio, Jamaica. His first collection, Far District, won the PEN/Joyce Osterweil Award. His poetry and essays have appeared in such publications as Attica, Caribbean Review of Books and LA Review. He is an assistant professor of English at Cornell University and a Pirogue Fellow.

Hamilton alumna Kamila Shamsie is the author of five novels. Her first, In the City by the Sea, was published in 1998 and shortlisted for the John Llewelyn Rhys/Mail on Sunday Prize. In 1999 she received the Award for Literature in Pakistan. Her most recent novel, Burnt Shadows, was shortlisted for Orange Prize for Fiction 2009 and has been translated into 20 languages. Shamsie grew up in Karachi, studied and taught at Hamilton, and now lives in London.

Tuesday, February 26
7 p.m. – Screening of Possession, Kennedy Auditorium Taylor Science Center

Wednesday, February 27
8 p.m. – Harry Potter Trivia Night, The Little Pub

Thursday, February 28
4 p.m. – Q and A with Kamila Shamsie, Root Hall 201

Friday, March 1
8 p.m. – Reading and book signing by A.S. Byatt, the Chapel

Saturday, March 2
10 a.m. - 4 p.m. – International Book Fair, Taylor Science Center Atrium
10:30 a.m. – Jamaican Breakfast, Taylor Science Center Atrium
11 a.m. – Reading by Ishion Hutchinson, Taylor Science Center Atrium
2 p.m. – Panel on favorite international authors by Ishion Hutchinson and Kamila Shamsie, Room G041, Taylor Science Center
4 p.m. – Reading by Kamila Shamsie, 2013 Writer-in-Residence, Taylor Science Center Atrium

International Writers Week is sponsored by The Dean of Faculty and hosted by the English and Creative Writing Department. A group of donors from Hamilton’s class of 1961 gave Hamilton a generous gift to help support the program in memory of classmate Eric Oatman, who was a writer and editor.

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