Author of "We Need New Names," NoViolet Bulawayo

Bulawayo grew up in Zimbabwe and is the author of We Need New Names, this year’s common reading for first-year Hollins students. Bulawayo’s semiautobiographical literary debut is the story of a ten-year-old girl’s journey from Africa to America. The novel was a finalist for the Man Booker Prize and won the Los Angeles Times Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction. London’s The Daily Telegraph said We Need New Names “is not just a stunning piece of literary craftsmanship but also a novel that helps elucidate today's world.” Bulawayo teaches at Stanford University as a Jones Lecturer in Fiction. Reception to follow in the Green Drawing Room, Main.