Award-winning Cuban-American novelist Cristina Garcia will visit Kansas University and present a public reading of her works at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 22 in the Malott Room of the Kansas Union.

The free event is open to the public.

Garcia’s novels have been widely acclaimed. Her first, “Dreaming in Cuban,” was nominated for the National Book Award, and her second, “The Aguero Sisters,” has been widely admired by critics and readers. Her work illustrates the complexities of a dual cultural identity and its benefits, drawbacks and penalties.

Garcia was born in Havana and raised in New York City. She attended Columbia University and later became Time magazine’s bureau chief for Florida and the Caribbean, then became a novelist. She has received a Guggenheim fellowship, a Whiting Writer’s Award and a Princeton University fellowship.

This event is co-sponsored by the department of English, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Center of Latin American Studies, Hall Center for the Humanities, department of Spanish and Portuguese, Women’s Studies Program and department of American Studies.

For more information, contact Joe Harrington, (785) 864-2575, or Marta Caminero-Santangelo, (785) 864-2529.