The Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series of Hope College will feature National Book Award
winner Jaimy Gordon on Thursday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m. at the Knickerbocker Theatre in
downtown Holland.
In addition, Gordon will participate in a question-and-answer session on Thursday,
Nov. 3, at 3:30 p.m. in the Herrick Room on the second floor of the DeWitt Center.
The public is invited to both events. Admission is free.
Gordon's fourth novel, "Lord of Misrule," won the prestigious 2010 National Book Award
for fiction. "Lord of Misrule" captures the dusty, dark, and beautiful world of small-time
horse racing, where trainers, jockeys, grooms and grifters vie for what little luck
is offered at a run-down West Virginia track. Gordon's short story, '"A Night's Work,'"
which shares a number of characters with her novel, "Lord of Misrule," appeared in
Best American Short Stories 1995.
Gordon graduated from Antioch College, and received her Doctor of Arts from BrownUniversity.
She has lived in Southern California and West Virginia, and was Writer-in-Residence
with the Rhode Island Council on the Arts. Gordon has taught at BrownUniversity, Roger
Williams College and Eastern Washington State College.
Gordon's second novel, "She Drove Without Stopping," brought her an Academy-Institute
Award for her fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her third novel,
"Bogeywoman," was on the "Los Angeles Times" Best Books List for 2000, as well as
on Context's booksellers' list of the Most Important Works of Fiction published that
year.
Gordon currently teaches at Western Michigan University and in the Prague Summer Program
for Writers.
Additional information about the Jack Ridl Visiting Writers Series may be obtained
online by going to www.hope.edu/vws.
A performance by a Hope jazz group will precede the reading beginning at 6:30 p.m.
The DeWitt Center is located at 141 E. 12th St., facing Columbia Avenue at 12th Street.
The Knickerbocker Theatre is located at 86 E. Eighth St.