In conjunction with the exhibit “Wandering Spirit: African Wax Prints,” the Robert Hillestad Textiles Gallery and the Department of Textiles, Merchandising & Fashion Design will host a reading and book signing by Department of English faculty member and author Chigozie Obioma. The event will be held at 5:30 p.m., Nov. 1, in Room 11 of the Home Economics Building on East Campus at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The event is free and open to the public as well as the university community.
Obioma, assistant professor of literature and creative writing, was short-listed for the 2015 Man Booker Prize for his first novel, “The Fishermen,” widely praised for its "...sharp observation, rich images of the natural world...and majestic reimagining of timeless folklore" (Publishers Weekly, April 13, 2015).
Born in Nigeria, Obioma is one of twelve children raised in Akure, in the southwestern part of the country. He completed a master of fine arts degree in creative writing at the University of Michigan. Obioma will read from “The Fishermen” and reflect on Nigerian culture and society. A book signing and reception will follow the reading in the Hillestad Gallery on the second floor of the Home Economics Building. University Bookstore will have paperback and hardcover copies of “The Fishermen” available for purchase before and following the reading.
“Wandering Spirit: African Wax Prints” is an exhibition of patterned textiles that traces the developmental pathway of the African wax print and tells how these fabrics reflect the stories, cultures, and personalities of the people who wear them. The history of the African wax print is a history embedded in colonial trade routes and dependent on globalization in the post-colonial era. Though not originally African, these textiles are widely associated African culture and society, and loved and identified as Africans' own. The exhibition opened in the Hillestad Gallery on Oct. 24 and runs through Nov. 23.
More details at: http://go.unl.edu/wandering