US Cultural Ambassdor gives talk at One Family, 6 May
In association with the United States Embassy Dublin, One Family welcomes US Cultural Ambassador Dr Brenda Flanagan to Cherish House, Dublin 2
This is a unique experience to hear one of the US’s premier women writers
You are invited to join One Family on Friday 6 May from 10am until 12 noon to hear Dr Brenda Flanagan speak on Accomplishing your Goals as a Single Parent.
Known for her inspiring talks and her performance abilities, Brenda will weave in her experiences as a writer, so anyone with an interest in writing should attend. Places are limited so early booking is vital.
Brenda Flanagan was born in Trinidad in 1949, the twelfth of fourteen children in an impoverished family. Her father was a barman, her mother a laundress. Brenda recalls having a hunger for involvement with the wider world and dreamt of being a writer. She started writing poetry at the age of ten and by thirteen she was singing calypsos and earning money for it. However, at the age of fourteen she had to leave school to help support her family, by then only parented by her mother. She worked for a time in a factory, then was taken on as a trainee reporter of The Nation, the newspaper of the then ruling People’s National Movement led by Dr. Eric Williams.
In 1967 she left Trinidad for the USA, working initially as a domestic servant. Marriage and motherhood deflected her plans to study, but by 1975, then a single mother, she began undergraduate studies at the University of Michigan. There she won the prestigious Hopwood Awards for her short stories, a novel and drama.
She is the author of the prize-winning novel, You Alone Are Dancing (Peepal Tree Press), a collection of short stories, In Praise of Island Women and Other Crimes, and Allah in the Islands, a sequel to You Alone Are Dancing
Dr Brenda Flanagan teaches creative writing, Caribbean and African American Literatures at Davidson College, North Carolina. She is also a United States cultural ambassador, and has served in Kazakstan, Chad and Panama.
Please send an email to Stuart at sduffin@onefamily.ie or info@onefamily.ie to book your place. If you would like more information do not hesitate to contact us on 01 662 9212.
Contact Hilary Fennell, Communications Manager, 01 6629212
