You’ve read the book, Wichita — now see the author

Emily St. John Mandel, author of “Station Eleven,” this year’s pick for the Wichita Big Read, will visit Wichita on Thursday.

The author will speak from 7 to 8 p.m. on Thursday at Alumni Hall in the Davis Administration Building at Friends University, 2100 W. University. She will be available to sign books after the event, which is free.

Mandel will sit down with Beth Golay of KMUW, Wichita’s NPR affiliate, to discuss the book, writing, and the importance of art and culture.

Mandel, a 39-year-old Canadian writer, has published four novels. Her most recent, “Station Eleven,” is a post-apocalyptic tale that explores the collapse of society in the aftermath of a flu pandemic. It won the Arthur C. Clarke Award and was nominated for the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the Baileys Women’s Prize for Fiction.

The Wichita Public Library received a $15,000 grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to help finance this year’s Big Read, a community-wide program that encourages diverse audiences to read the same book and participate in events designed around its theme.

Thursday’s author talk marks the culmination of the Wichita Big Read, which is in its 11th year.

This story was originally published November 14, 2018 at 5:01 AM.