Fiction writer Christina Chiu`91 to read from work

Fiction writer Christina Chiu’ 91 reads from her work at 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 25, in the Benjamin Mays Center, 95 Russell St.

Co-founder of the Asian American Writers Workshop, Chiu has a two-book contract with Penguin Putnam Inc. A Book-of-the-Month Club First Fiction Selection, her story collection Troublemakers and Other Saints (Penguin Putnam Inc., 2001), explores the relationships of Chinese families in New York and Hong Kong. The collection’s title story was first published in the premiere issue of the literary magazine Tin House, whose “New Voices” section Chiu now edits. Troublemaker won third place in the Playboy Fiction Contest.

Publisher’s Weekly described her stories as “heartbreaking prose,” adding “her characters are tenderly and skillfully drawn.” Kirkus Reviews called the book “wonderfully involving and intelligent work, from a strikingly gifted new writer.”

Chiu is at work on her first novel, scheduled for release next year. With an M.F.A. in creative writing from Columbia University, she has received numerous fellowships and residencies from, among others, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation, the UCross Foundation and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.

Sponsored by the English department, the event is open to the public free of charge.