ITHACA, N.Y. -- Jamaica Kincaid, one of the most important and influential authors writing today, will give a reading Friday, Oct. 17, at 7:30 p.m. in the Hollis E. Cornell Auditorium of Goldwin Smith Hall on the Cornell University campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Kincaid is the third reader in the James McConkey Readings in American Fiction series sponsored by the Cornell Department of English's Creative Writing Program. The previous readers in the series have been Tobias Wolff, in 2001, and Tim O'Brien, in 1999.

Kincaid's work has received wide critical acclaim. She won the Morton Dauwen Zabel Award from the American Academy and Institute of Arts for her first book, At the Bottom of the River , and a Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund writer's award. Her other books include Annie, Gwen, Lilly, Pam and Tulip ; A Small Place ; Lucy ; Autobiography of My Mother ; My Brother ; Talk Stories ; My Garden (Book); and her most recent novel, Mr. Potter .

Considered one of America's premier fiction writers, Kincaid was born in 1949 as Elaine Potter Richardson on the island of Antigua. She lived with her stepfather, a carpenter, and her mother until 1965, when she was sent to Westchester, N.Y., to work as an au pair. She went on to study photography at the New York School for Social Research and attended Franconia College in New Hampshire for a year before returning to New York. In 1973 she changed her name to Jamaica Kincaid, because her family disapproved of her writing. Her first published writings appeared in Ingenue magazine and The Village Voice . After The New Yorker 's "Talk of the Town" columnist, George W.S. Trow, printed her notes on events in the city as a piece, Kincaid drew the attention of New Yorker editor William Shawn. She became a regular contributor to the magazine and a featured columnist for "Talk of the Town." She is married to the composer Allen Shawn (William Shawn's son), and they live in Bennington, Vt.

The McConkey Readings in American Fiction series is made possible through the generosity of Cornell alumnus Fred Parkin '63. For more information about the series or the Kincaid reading, contact Marianne Marsh in the English department at (607) 255-6799 or mrm4@cornell.edu .

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