Author Jamaica Kincaid to give reading

Critically acclaimed author Jamaica Kincaid will read from her previous works and a work in progress at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12, in McCosh 10.

Born Elaine Potter Richardson on the island of Antigua, the author changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid because her family disapproved of her writing. A staff writer at The New Yorker magazine from 1976 to 1995, she is now a visiting lecturer at Harvard University.

She has published more than a dozen books, including the long essay "A Small Place"; the novels "Annie John," "The Autobiography of My Mother," and "Mr. Potter"; the memoir "My Brother"; and the travel memoir "Among Flowers: A Walk in the Himalaya."

Kincaid has received many awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Prix Femina Etranger, one of France's highest literary honors.

The reading is sponsored by the Center for African American Studies, Davis International Center, Fields Center, Forbes College, Fund for Intergroup Collaboration, Princeton Association of Black Women, Princeton Caribbean Connection, PRISM magazine, Program in American Studies, Sustained Dialogue and the Women's Center.