Novelist and short story writer Imbolo Mbue will speak on campus Thursday, Sept. 13, as part of the Dyson School’s Dean’s Distinguished Speaker Series. The 7 p.m. lecture in Kennedy Hall’s Call Auditorium is free and open to the public and will be followed by a book signing.

Mbue left her native Limbe, Cameroon, to study in the U.S., and received a bachelor’s degree from Rutgers University and a master’s from Columbia University. She became a U.S. citizen in 2014, the same year she signed a $1 million deal for her novel, “Behold the Dreamers,” which won the 2017 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and was selected by Oprah Winfrey for her book club. The novel has been translated into 12 languages, was adapted into an opera, is about to become a stage play, and was recently optioned for a movie.

All new first-year Dyson students read “Behold the Dreamers” over the summer and have discussed it in small groups.