Zadie Smith is the author of WHITE TEETH, winner of The Whitbread First Novel Award, The Guardian First Book Award, The James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction, and The Commonwealth Writers' First Book Award. Her second novel, THE AUTOGRAPH MAN, won The Jewish QuarterlyWingate Literary Prize. Zadie Smith's third novel, ON BEAUTY, was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize, and won The Commonwealth Writers' Best Book Award (Eurasia Section) and the Orange Prize for Fiction. She has edited an anthology of short stories entitled THE BOOK OF OTHER PEOPLE. Her collection of essays CHANGING MY MIND was published in November 2009.  Zadie Smith is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Nathan Englander is the author of the story collection FOR THE RELIEF OF UNBEARABLE URGES (Knopf, 1999) and the novel THE MINISTRY OF SPECIAL CASES (Knopf, 2007).  His fiction and essays have been published in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, The Washington Post, and anthologized in The O. Henry Prize Anthology and numerous editions of Best American Short Stories.  Englander was selected as one of the "20 Writers for the 21st Century" by The New Yorker, received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a PEN/Malamud Award, and the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. He is currently at work on a play based on his short story "The Twenty-seventh Man."

Matawi 501(c)(3), meaning "branches" in Swahili, supports education, civic engagement, and leadership development in the global refugee community.  Through a range of programs and initiatives, Matawi seeks to responsively identify and nurture strengths, skills, and potential for growth across the diaspora. With an awareness that refugee needs and contexts are in constant flux, Matawi currently emphasizes facilitation of access to higher education for Somali refugee women through the Dadaab Young Women's Scholarship Initiative; the gathering and sharing of life-stories; and cultural brokering between resettling populations and local community agencies.   

DETAILS:

Event: Zadie Smith and Nathan Englander in Conversation to benefit Matawi

Date & Time: Thursday, December 2, 2010 at 8:00pm, Reception to follow.

Location: The School of Visual Arts Theatre Chelsea, 333 West 23^rd St, New York, NY 10011

Tickets: General Admission: $100 includes a gift bag with books by both authors and access to the reception.

VIP: $250 guarantees front and center seating and signed books by both authors.

Students with ID: $35
PEN Members and The Paris Review subscribers: $50
Tickets available only online through Matawi