A conversation from the Barnard International Artist Series:
The novels and essays of the acclaimed British author Zadie Smith enjoy an international following, yet their universality stems from very specific concerns: race, identity, and, of course, Willesden Green, the northwest London neighborhood where the writer grew up and which serves as one of the principal characters in her marvelous new novel NW. Join us to hear this unique artist read from her work and discuss the relationship between her private passions and the global themes of her writing. Zadie Smith's first novel, White Teeth, was the winner of several prizes, including the Whitbread First Novel Award, and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction. Her second novel, The Autograph Man, won the Jewish Quarterly-Wingate Prize. Smith's third novel, On Beauty, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and won the Commonwealth Writers Book Prize, and the Orange Prize for fiction.