Kali Fajardo-Anstine is the bestselling author of Woman of Light and Sabrina & Corina, a finalist for the National Book Award, the PEN/Bingham Prize, The Story Prize, and the winner of an American Book Award. She is the 2021 recipient of the Metcalf Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her work has been honored with the Denver Mayor’s Award for Global Impact in the Arts and the Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association Reading the West Award. She has written for The New York Times, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, The American Scholar, Boston Review, and elsewhere, and has received fellowships from MacDowell, Yaddo, Hedgebrook, and Tin House.  Fajardo-Anstine  earned her MFA from the University of Wyoming and has lived across the country, from Durango, Colorado, to Key West, Florida. She is the 2022/2023 Endowed Chair in Creative Writing at Texas State University. She is from Denver, Colorado.

Sponsored by the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, The First-Year Writing Seminar Program, and the Dean of First-Year Students.

About the William Starr Lecture

Vassar’s annual Starr lecture is designed to bring a distinguished author to campus to speak to first-year students about the writing life.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations or information on accessibility should contact the Campus Activities Office (845) 437-5370.

The lecture is free and open to the public.