CSU-Pueblo Reading Series features two Canadian authors

PUEBLO - The Southern Colorado (SOCO) Reading Series will host two Canadian authors at its first event of the Spring 2016 Semester at Colorado State University-Pueblo. Canadian author Steve Hayward, who last visited in January of 2010, and fellow Canadian author Nino Ricci will present their work at 7 p.m. on February 17 in Library and Academic Resources Center (LARC) 109. For more than a decade SOCO Reading Series has brought national and international recognized authors to CSU-Pueblo, making the institution a destination for distinguished guests of various writing categories.

The event is free and open to the public. Copies of both author's books are available in the CSU-Pueblo bookstore located in the Occhiato University Center or at the series event. For more information regarding this event, contact Juan Morales, associate professor of English/foreign languages, at juan.morales@csupueblo.edu or 719.549.2082.

Steven Hayward was born in Toronto, Canada. His latest book is To Dance the Beginning of the World, and his first book, a compelling collection of short stories, Buddha Stevens and Other Stories, received the 2001 Upper Canada Writers Craft Award. Hayward's first novel, The Secret Mitzuah of Lucio Burke, won the Grinzane Cavour Prize for debut fiction in January 2006. Hayward earned his Doctorate from York University Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Currently, Hayward is a Professor of English at Colorado College, in Colorado, where he teaches creative writing and hosts the radio show, Critical Karaoke, with Idris Goodwin and Ryan Banagle.

Nino Ricci was born in Leamington, Ontario, Canada, to immigrants from Italy. Though he currently lives in Toronto, Canada, he travelled throughout Europe and Africa after earning his master's degree in creative writing from Concordia University in Montreal. For two years, he remained in Nigeria, Africa to teach English literature and language at a high school. Ricci's first novel, Lives of the Saints, was well praised by critics winning three awards: Books in Canada First Novel Award, 1990 Governor General's Award for Fiction, and the Betty Trask Award. He is also the author of In a Glass House, Where She Has Gone, Testament, and The Origin of Species. His latest is the Canadian national bestseller, Sleep.

Colorado State University - Pueblo is a regional, comprehensive university emphasizing professional, career-oriented, and applied programs. Displaying excellence in teaching, celebrating diversity, and engaging in service and outreach, CSU-Pueblo is distinguished by access, opportunity, and the overall quality of services provided to its students.