McCormick & Kriegman Talk at Writers Speak Wednesdays

[caption id="attachment_36972" align="alignleft" width="300"] Mitchell Kriegman[/caption]

Patricia McCormick and Mitchell Kriegman will be the next guests in the spring Writers Speak Wednesdays series of free author talks and readings open to the public at Stony Brook Southampton. The two authors will read and talk about their work on Wednesday, April 15, at 7 p.m. in the Radio Lounge on the second floor of Chancellors Hall.

A mentor in the Stony Brook Southampton MFA in Creative Writing Children’s Literature Fellows program, Ms. McCormick, is a two-time National Book Award finalist. She is the author of five critically acclaimed novels: “Never Fall Down,” based on the true story of an 11-year-old boy who survived the killing fields of Cambodia by playing music; “Purple Heart,” a psychological exploration of the killing of a 10-year-old boy in Iraq; “Sold,” a moving account of sexual trafficking, which was recently made into an independent film; “My Brother’s Keeper,” a realistic view of teenage substance abuse; and “Cut,” an intimate portrait of one girl’s struggle with self-injury.

Ms. McCormick also worked with Malala Yousafzai to write the New York Times bestseller “I Am Malala” (Young Readers Edition), about the Pakistani young lady who defied the Taliban by pursuing her education. Shot in the head one afternoon as she was returning home from school, she lived to inspire millions and win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Mr. Kriegman is the author of “Being Audrey Hepburn,” and an upcoming novel due out this year, “Things I Can’t Explain,”  a modern-day, mid-20s follow-up on the lead character of his groundbreaking cult classic ’90s Nickelodeon show, “Clarissa Explains It All.” Mr. Kriegman, who formerly worked on television projects out of a studio in East Hampton, was also the executive story editor of the original “Ren and Stimpy,” “Rugrats,” and “Doug and Rocko’s Modern Life.” He has won four Emmys for his work on other children’s TV shows, including “Bear in the Big Blue House,” “Book of Pooh” and “It’s a Big, Big World.”

Other writers scheduled for the spring series include Roxana Robinson, April 22, and Laura Lippman interviewed by former New Yorker fiction editor Dan Menaker, April 29. On May 6, the evening will be devoted to readings by “the stars of tomorrow”: students enrolled in the MFA in Creative Writing and Literature program at Stony Brook Southampton.

Writers Speak Wednesdays programs are free and open to the public. All readings begin at 7 p.m. in the Radio Lounge on the second floor of Chancellors Hall at Stony Brook Southampton, 239 Montauk Highway.