Press Release:
BATAVIA, NY -- Genesee Community College continues to demonstrate a commitment to student success and community connections with a campus visit from nationally known author Roy Kesey on Monday, April 27. With the aid of the Humanities department, assistance from The New Courier, Genesee's student run newspaper, and funds from the Academic Innovations Senate Committee, Kesey will be reading, answering questions, and signing books from 9:30 to 11:30 AM at the Batavia Campus in room T102. This event is free and open to the public.
Roy Kesey is the author of three books: a short story collection called All Over (Dzanc Books), a novella entitled Nothing in the World (Dzanc Books), and Nanjing: A Cultural and Historical Guide for Travelers (Atomic Press.) He recently won the Jeffrey E. Smith Editors' Prize in Fiction at The Missouri Review.
Kesey's work has appeared in more than seventy magazines in North America, Europe and Asia. Prior to their publication in All Over, several of his stories appeared in anthologies including The Robert Olen Butler Prize Anthology and New Sudden Fiction. The story Wait was picked by Stephen King for inclusion in the Best American Short Stories 2007 anthology.
Nothing in the World is the story of Josko Banovic, a lonely schoolboy who, with the outbreak of fighting between Serbia and his native Croatia, reveals himself to be a gifted sniper and becomes an unwitting war hero. Winner of the Bullfight Little Book Prize, Nothing in the World received unanimously great reviews, sold out its original 2006 printing in just a few months, and was recently brought back into print by Dzanc Books.
Nanjing: A Cultural and Historical Guide for Travelers has been lauded as a "well-informed and beautifully observed book," and Kesey as "the ideal guide to the mighty city on the Yangtze." The book combines vivid historical anecdotes and profiles to give the reader a clear image of contemporary Nanjing.
"We're honored to have Roy Kesey visit Genesee and share his literary works with the community," Tracy Ford, associate professor of English said. "This couldn't have been possible without the commitment and funds contributed by the Humanities department, The New Courier and the Academic Innovations Senate Committee. We are truly grateful for all their contributions."
Roy Kesey was born and raised in northern California, and currently lives with his wife and children in Syracuse. He has traveled around the world writing and has lived in China, as well as Peru. For more information regarding Roy Kesey, please visit www.roykesey.com <http://www.roykesey.com> .
For further information, please contact Kris Dassinger 585-343-0055 x6233, Marie Iglesias-Cardinale 585-343-0055 x6275 or Tracy Ford 585-343-0055 x6277.
