Story by Yashowanto Ghosh, Staff Writer 
Photo courtesy of Gary Joseph Cohen/Simon&Schuster

The 2018–2019 season of the Contemporary Writers Series of Aquinas College will kick off with a reading by the New York Times bestselling novelist Brendan Kiely at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 27 in the Wege Ballroom.

Kiely has published four books:  “The Gospel of Winter” in 2014, “All American Boys” in 2015, “The Last True Love Story” in 2016, and “Tradition” in 2018. His books have also been published in translation in more than 10 languages. He has won a Coretta Scott King Author Honor Award, the Walter Dean Myers Award and the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award. His books were selected in Kirkus Reviews Best Books in 2014 and in American Library Association’s Best Fiction for Young Adults in 2015 and 2017.

Writing for young adults, Kiely has — in his recent work — addressed contemporary problems such as sexism and white supremacy. The full title of his latest novel, for example, is “Tradition … Is Not an Excuse.” The novel focuses on the fallout from a sexual assault at a private High School.

In his work as a speaker, Kiely is also a well-known activist for social justice. Earlier this month, for example, he participated in a four-author panel presented by PEN America and the Brooklyn Book Festival on toxic masculinity.

The Contemporary Writers Series, now in its 22nd year, brings four prominent writers to perform readings on the campus of Aquinas College each year. All the readings start at 7:30 p.m. and happen in the Wege Ballroom. More information about the Contemporary Writers Series can be found here.

About the Writer…

Yashowanto Ghosh is a senior with a major in communication and minors in journalism and writing. Jasho is also an alumnus of Aquinas (B.A. German ’11).