April 14, 2013, Sunday - Second Story Reading Series: Jewell Parker Rhodes and Sheila O'Connor at The Loft

Tme: 2:00pm

Location: The Loft, Performance Hall, 1011 Washington Avenue South

Second Story Reading Series: Jewell Parker Rhodes and Sheila O'Connor

Volunteer curated by children’s authors Swati Avasthi and Heather Bouwman, Second Story is the Loft’s reading series for young adult, middle-grade, and picture book authors. Perfect for families and readers of all ages, Second Story pairs an up-and-coming author with a more established voice in children’s literature. April's Second Story event pairs local author Sheila O'Connor with visiting Loft Mentor Series mentor Jewell Parker Rhodes for a beautifully balanced afternoon reading.

Sheila O’Connor is the award-winning author of four novels: Keeping Safe the Stars, Sparrow Road, Where No Gods Came and Tokens of Grace. Her poetry and fiction have been recognized with fellowships from the Bush Foundation, Loft McKnight and the Minnesota State Arts Board. A graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she is a professor in the MFA program at Hamline University where she also serves as fiction editor for Water~Stone Review. Sheila’s books have been honored with the Michigan Prize for Literary Fiction, Minnesota Book Award, International Reading Award, Midwest Booksellers Award finalist and Best Books of 2012 from VOYA, Bank Street Books, Booklist, and Chicago Public Libraries. Visit her website at sheilaconnor.com.    

Jewell Parker Rhodes is the author of Ninth Ward, a children’s book, the forthcoming children’s novel Sugar, as well as six novels for adults: Voodoo Dreams, Magic City, Douglass’ Women, Voodoo Season, Yellow Moon, and Hurricane and a memoir Porch Stories: A Grandmother’s Guide to Happiness. Her writing guides include Free Within Ourselves: Fiction Lessons for Black Authors and The African American Guide to Writing and Publishing Nonfiction. Among her honors are the American Book Award, two Arizona Book Awards, the National Endowment for the Arts Award in Fiction, the PEN Oakland/Josephine Miles Award for Outstanding Writing, and the Black Caucus of the American Library Award for Literary Excellence. She is the Virginia G. Piper Chair in Creative Writing and Artistic Director of Piper Global Engagement at Arizona State University.