Diana Abu-Jaber to speak in Manzanita

October 15, 3:14 PMPortland Writers ExaminerKaren Gilb

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Diana Abu-Jaber is scheduled to appear at the Hoffman Center Annex in Manzanita as part of the Manzanita Writers' Series.  The event takes place at 7 pm on Saturday, October 17th.  The Portland author will read excerpts from her most recent novel, Origin.  (trade, W.W.Norton)

Abu-Jaber, who dealt with Arab-American themes in her earlier works, shows her versatility as a writer by changing her focus in this novel.  Readers will find that Origin is a gripping contemporary thriller:

"Lena is a fingerprint expert at a crime lab in the small city of Syracuse, NY, where winters are cold and deep.  A series of crib deaths--indistinguishable from SIDS except for the fevered testimony of one distraught mother with high-placed connections--draws the attention of the police and the national media.  The inconceivable  has suddenly become a terrifying possibility.  Is there a serial infant murderer on the loose?"

Abu-Jaber has published a variety of short stories and articles in publications such as the International Herald Tribune, the Washington Post, Good Housekeeping, and many others.  She has also published a memoir entitled The Language of Baklava.

Origin is her third novel.  Her first, Arabian Jazz, won the 1994 Oregon Book Award and was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award.  Crescent was awarded the 2004 PEN Center USA Award for Literary Fiction and was also named one of the twenty best novels of 2003 by the Christian Science Monitor. 

Diana Abu-Jaber teaches at Portland State University, and currently divides her time between Portland and Miami.

The Hoffman Center Annex is located at 594 Laneda Avenue, right across the street from the Manzanita Library.  The Annex will be set up cafe' style with coffee/tea and snacks available.  A $5 donation is suggested to help with event expenses.

For more information, please contact Kathie Hightower at 503-739-1505 or email Kathie@jumpintolife.net. And for more info on the Manzanita Writers' Series, please check out their website.