The Williston Northampton School’s Writers’ Workshop Series will host author Debra Monroe for a public presentation on Thursday, October 7, at 7:00 p.m. in the Dodge Room of the Reed Campus Center. This event is free and the public is welcome.

Declared “required reading” by Vanity Fair and picked by People Magazine and Salon.com, Monroe’s memoir On the Outskirts of Normal: Forging a Family Against the Grain tells an unsentimental story about a white woman who adopts a black baby in small town Texas. Published in June 2010, it has since been on the “Top 10 Books to Pick Up” in O: the Oprah Magazine.

“Infused with humor and compassion, by turns hilarious and heartbreaking. What shines throughout the book is Monroe’s love for the little girl who transformed her life,” writes Chitra Divakaruni of the Houston Chronicle.

Twice nominated for the National Book Award and winner of the Flannery O’Connor Award, Debra Monroe is also the author of two collections of stories, The Source of Trouble and A Wild, Cold State; and two novels, Newfangled and Shambles. She teaches in the MFA program at Texas State University.

In an interview concerning her memoir, Monroe told the Austin Chronicle, “There are two schools of thought about transracial adoption: 1) It’s no big deal. 2) It’s a big deal. I’m somewhere in between. It’s always been about motherhood for me, about love.”

Continuing this year’s Writers’ Workshop Series, Thomas French (Zoo Story) will speak on  November 30. John Marks (Fangland) will also be visiting Williston for a class lecture open to Williston students only. For more information about the series, visit www.williston.com/writersworkshop.