COOKEVILLE – Center Stage presents famed author Lily Hoang at Tennessee Tech University’s Backdoor Playhouse on Thursday, Feb. 24, at 7 p.m.
Hosted by Tech’s English department’s creative writing program, Hoang is the author of five books of prose. They include “Changing,” a recipient of a PEN Open Books Award; and “A Bestiary,” winner of the Cleveland State University Poetry Center’s Non-Fiction Book Prize.
Her newest work is “Underneath,” “the searing tale of an abusive mother/daughter relationship. Told from the point of view of the murdered daughter, in prose that is part rant and part poetry, the novel draws its power from an unflinching examination of the monstrous parts of human nature,” said Cai Emmons, author of “Weather Woman”.
Hoang is an associate professor of literature, creative writing at University of California San Diego, where she is also on the affiliated faculty of critical gender studies. She received her Master of Fine Arts from the University of Notre Dame.
With Joshua Marie Wilkinson, she edited the anthology “The Force of What’s Possible: Writers on Accessibility and the Avant-Garde.” In Summer 2017, she was Mellon scholar in residence at Rhodes University in South Africa. She is editor of Jaded Ibis Press and executive editor of HTML Giant.
Center Stage events are paid by student fees and open to the public with priority seating given to students. Many guests provide additional educational opportunities for students through workshops or master classes during their residencies. Event admission is free unless otherwise noted. Email or call Liz Kassera, Center Stage Coordinator, for more information at lkassera@tentech.edu or (931) 372-3637.
The Backdoor Playhouse is located on the first floor of the Jere Whitson Building. The address is 805 Quadrangle, Cookeville.