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Events Sat Feb 11 2012
Granta Magazine Reading with Chinelo Okparanta & Nami Mun
Last night at the Women & Children First bookstore, Chinelo Okparanta and Nami Mun read from their work, and conducted a question & answer session afterward. Despite the wintery weather, a good sized crowd made it out to hear the authors read. The authors were reading to promote famed British magazine Granta. Chinelo Okparanta, a graduate from the Iowa Writers Workshop, and a professor at Iowa University, read from her story "America" in Granta's 2012 Winter edition titled "Exit Strategies." Nami Mun, a professor at Columbia College in Chicago, who's story, "The Anniversary" is in Granta's 2011 Spring issue titled, "Aliens." Nami decided to read from her 2008 novel Miles from Nowhere from a chapter called "At the Employment Agency."
Aspiring writers from Columbia College, where Nami Mun is a professor, and a few from Iowa, where Chinelo Okparanta teaches at Iowa University, asked the authors questions pertaining to plot line, inspiration, being put into a category, and how to know where to end a novel. When answering the questions, both authors showed their difference in style, and writing process. Chinelo Okparanta starts with a location first, while Nami Mun starts with the characters. But, the commonality they share is their enjoyment for writing, which is what keeps them writing.
