Kelly Writers Series Presents
"The Secret Lives of Church Ladies"
Deesha Philyaw, American author and columnist
Wednesday, Feb. 11 at 7:30 p.m.
Green Center, Thompson Recital Hall

DePauw University's Visiting Writers Committee kicks off its spring series with Deesha Philyaw, author of "The Secret Lives of Church Ladies." Her debut short story collection won the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the 2020/2021 Story Prize, a 2020 LA Times Book Prize, The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction, and it was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. The collection, praised as “luminous stories populated by deeply moving and multifaceted characters” by Kirkus Reviews, explores the raw and tender places where Black women and girls dare to follow their desires and pursue a momentary reprieve from being good.

Sponsored by funds from the Mary Rogers Field and Marion Field-McKenna Distinguished Chair of Creative Writing and the Kelly Writers Series.