Century College to Host Award-Winning Author Lesley Nneka Arimah

White Bear Lake, MN – Celebrated author Lesley Nneka Arimah will visit Century College on Wednesday, October 25, to introduce her dazzling debut collection of short stories – What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky.

Arimah’s first story in the New Yorker—about a doll woven from hair who comes to life—was a finalist for a National Magazine Award.  Her story in Granta about a father grappling with how best to raise his daughter won the 2015 African Commonwealth Prize. And a story about a young woman who has the ability to see people’s sadness was a finalist for the 2016 Caine Prize.  Whimsically beautiful and delightfully strange, Arimah’s inventive and sharply observed stories have amassed a devoted following of readers.

Arimah’s visit to Century will include afternoon and evening events:

• A 1:30 p.m. Reading and Q&A with students, followed by a coffee and book signing in The Nest on Century’s west campus.
• A 7:30 p.m. Reading and Q&A, followed by a book signing and reception in the Lincoln Mall on Century’s east campus.

Both events are free and open to the public.

Lesley Arimah emigrated from Nigeria to Louisiana at the age of thirteen, a disorienting transition that left her keenly attuned to the shockwaves set in motion by displacement.  The powerful twelve stories in What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky embrace magical realism while deploying a deeply empathetic understanding of character and place. With her intimate yet universal portrayals of homeland and exile, of mothers molding daughters and young women trying to steer their own course, Arimah explores the struggle to navigate conflicting cultures and to reconcile conflicting desires and needs.  At once playfully subversive and resonant with loss, this collection presents a prodigious talent with a remarkable career ahead of her.

About Lesley Nnika Arimah – Lesley Nneka Arimah was born in the UK and grew up in Nigeria and wherever else her father was stationed for work. She has been a finalist for a National Magazine Award and the Caine Prize, and a winner of the African Commonwealth Short Story Prize and an O. Henry Award, among other honors. She lives in Minneapolis.