Jhumpa Lahiri to speak at Bryn Mawr College

I was smitten by author Jhumpa Lahiri from the very first sentence of "Interpreter of Maladies" (Pulitzer-winning collection of short stories, 1999).

A 2008 profile of Lahiri in Time summed up her writing style quite well, "Lahiri's stories are grave and quiet and slow, in the 19th century manner. They don't bribe you with humor or plot twists or flashy language; they extract a steep up-front investment of time from the reader before they return their hard, dense nuggets of truth."

I've read everything she's produced, including novel "The Namesake" (2003) and story collection "Unaccustomed Earth" (2008 - I posted a short review here).

The London-born and U.S.-raised author, now 42, who as you can see from the photo above is gorgeous as well as talented, will be speaking at Bryn Mawr College on Wednesday, March 16, as part of the school's Creative Writing Program Reading Series. That's two weeks from today.

Anyone want to carpool?

The free event, which is open to the public, begins at 7:30 p.m. in McPherson Auditorium, Goodhart Hall.

Lahiri is slated to read from her works, answer questions and sign books. To learn more, call the Bryn Mawr College Creative Writing Program at 610-526-5306.