Helon Habila, who teaches creative writing at George Mason University, will be featured speaker at the first “Writers Read” program of the spring semester at Eastern Mennonite University.
Habila, who was born in Nigeria, will read from and comment on his prize-winning works 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 22, in Martin Chapel of the seminary building at EMU.
Habila studied literature at the University of Jos and taught at the Federal Polytechnic Bauchi before moving to Lagos to work as a journalist. In Lagos he wrote his first novel, “Waiting for an Angel,” which won the Caine Prize in 2001. In 2002, he moved to England to become the African Writing Fellow at the University of East Anglia. After his fellowship he enrolled for a PhD in Creative Writing.
Habila was awarded the Commonwealth Writers Prize in 2003. He was the first Chinua Achebe Fellow at Bard College in New York. He is a contributing editor to the Virginia Quarterly Review. His second novel, “Measuring Time,” was published in February, 2007.
Admission to the program, which includes dinner, is $17; $7 for students. Reservations are required and can be made on line at www.emu.edu/langlit/writersread or by calling the language and literature department at 540.432.4168.
– Story by Jim Bishop
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