Trinidadian-born novelist Elizabeth Nunez visited Vassar College at the invitation of the Caribbean Students Alliance and read from her new novel, Anna in Between. Nunez, who is a Distinguished Professor of English and Provost at Medgar Evers College (CUNY), is the author of six previous novels, When Rocks Dance (1986), Discretion (2002), Beyond The Limbo Silence (2003), Bruised Hibiscus (2003), Prospero’s Daughter (2006), and Grace (2006). She is a co-founder of the National Black Writers Conference.
Nunez is executive producer of the CUNY TV series Black Writers in America hosted by Ossie Davis, which was nominated for a 2004 NY Emmy Award for best television series in the category of historical/ cultural programming. A former fellow at Yaddo and MacDowell colonies and the Paden Institute, Dr. Nunez currently chairs the PEN American Center Open Book program and is Chairman of the Board for the Center for Black Literature and the Friends of the Calabash International Literary Festival. Her awards include the 2003 Caribbean American Heritage Award, the 2002 Go On Girl! National Author of the Year Award, the 2001 American Book Award for Bruised Hibiscus, the 1999 Independent Publishers Award in the multicultural fiction category for Beyond the Limbo Silence, the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award and an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters for her contributions to the arts and education from her alma mater, Marian College. Dr. Nunez is co-editor of the collection of essays, Defining Ourselves: Black Writers in the 90s.
Her new novel, Anna in Between, explores a woman’s return to Trinidad from the United States to visit her ailing parents, and her realization of how difficult it is to claim the space as still his own. She spoke to the students at great length about the creative process and the craft of writing.
