Alumna NoViolet Bulawayo Returning for Kalamazoo Valley’s Visiting Writers Series

Author NoViolet Bulawayo will visit Kalamazoo Valley Community College on March 30 and 31 as part of the annual Visiting Writers Series. From 10 to 10:45 a.m., she’ll read selections from her work. From 2:15 to 3 p.m. on both days, Bulawayo will give a craft talk.

Bulawayo was born in Zimbabwe and immigrated to the United States when she was 18. Bulawayo graduated from Kalamazoo Valley with a liberal arts degree in 2003. She has credited Kalamazoo Valley instructors with sparking her interest in writing. After leaving Kalamazoo Valley, Bulawayo went on to attend Texas A & M University. She was recognized with a Truman Capote Fellowship at Cornell University, where she earned her master of fine arts degree in creative writing. She was also a Wallace Stegner Fellow with Stanford University’s creative writing program. “I have been to many schools in my academic career, but Kalamazoo Valley remains for me the most important because of the formative experience I got there,” Bulawayo said. “I am who I am because of KVCC.” She was named Kalamazoo Valley's 2014 Distinguished Alumna. The award is given annually to an alumni of distinction for use of his or her education toward personal achievement and contribution to the betterment of the community.

Bulawayo won the 2011 Caine Prize for African Writing, was shortlisted for the 2009 SA Pen Studzinsi Award, and the 2013 Man Booker Prize. Her book, We Need New Names, was included on Oprah Winfrey’s list of Nine Must-Read Books for June 2013. She was also a featured writer at the Open Book Festival in Cape Town, South Africa.

In February 2014, she was named the winner of the inaugural Etisalat Prize for Literature award. She also received the 2014 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Fiction. She received a cash prize and a week-long residency in the Distinguished Visiting Writers Series at the University of Idaho’s MFA Program in Creative Writing.

Bulawayo will discuss her book, We Need New Names. The book will also be read across the campus. Kalamazoo Valley’s seven English faculty members are teaching the book “We Need New Names,” some in multiple sections, so there are hundreds of students reading the book this semester.

Kalamazoo Valley's "About Writing" Visiting Writers Series is directed by English instructor Rob Haight and offers students the opportunity to talk with professional writers and listen to their work. Bulawayo’s reading and craft talk will take place in the Student Commons at the Texas Township Campus. The public is welcome to attend.

For more information, contact Rob Haight, rhaight@kvcc.edu or 269.488.4452.