Arkansas International Hosts Distinguished Reader K-Ming Chang

K-Ming Chang

K-Ming Chang in a dark green sweater in front of a wooden door.

The Arkansas International and the University of Arkansas Program in Creative Writing & Translation are proud to present the Fall 2022 Walton Distinguished Reader at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 2, in the Willard and Pat Walker Community Room of the Fayetteville Public Library.

The reading, presented in conjunction with the Fayetteville Public Library TrueLit Festival, will feature acclaimed novelist and short story writer K-Ming Chang, author of Gods of Want and the PEN/Faulkner long-listed Bestiary. Copies of her books will be readily available for purchase from Two Friends Books. Arkansas International issues will also be available for purchase.

K-Ming Chang is a Kundiman fellow, a Lambda Literary Award finalist, and a National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree. She is the author of the New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice novel Bestiary (One World/Random House, 2020), which was longlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award. In 2021, her chapbook Bone House was published by Bull City Press. Her most recent book is Gods of Want (One World/Random House, 2022). Her next books are a novel titled Organ Meats (One World) and a novella titled Cecilia (Coffee House Press). She loves folklore, vampire literature, and birdwatching in her home state of California.

About the Arkansas International: The Arkansas International seeks to put emerging and established authors from across the world in conversation with one another. Launched by the University of Arkansas' Creative Writing & Translation program in 2016, the AI has published fiction, poetry, essays, comics, and works in translation from over 60 countries, including Egypt, Brazil, Venezuela, South Korea, Iran, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Russia, Italy, Galica, and Hungary. The AI also awards the annual C.D. Wright Emerging Poet's Prize and an Emerging Writer's Prize in Fiction, both given to authors who have not yet published full-length works.

The Arkansas International is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit publication committed to supporting writers and translators. Our publication is made possible by grants from the Program in Creative Writing & Translation and the Department of English at the University of Arkansas, the Whiting Foundation, as well as the generous support of individuals.

About the U of A M.F.A. Program in Creative Writing and Translation: For 50 years, the University of Arkansas Program in Creative Writing and Translation has served as a preeminent training ground for some of the nation's best writers. Established in 1966, ours is one of the oldest M.F.A. programs in the nation and one of the most innovative, offering degree tracks in poetry, fiction, and literary translation.

Each semester, our Walton Reading Series brings in established authors who offer a public reading and hold one-on-one conferences with students. Past visitors have included Colum McCann, A.E. Stallings, Khaled Mattawa, Franz Wright, Marian Schwartz, and William Gay. In addition, our Distinguished Readers Series lures true literary luminaries to campus for a public reading and private M.F.A. events: W.S. Merwin, Shahrnush Parsipur, Robert Hass, Joyce Carol Oates, Zadie Smith, and Claudia Rankine, among others.