Elaine Neil Orr, born in Nigeria to expat parents, brings us an indelible portrait of a young female artist, torn between two men and two cultures, struggling to find her passion and her purpose.
A Cappella Books is delighted to welcome the author for a special afternoon talk and book signing in honor of her book, "Dancing Woman." She will be joined in conversation with Rosemary Magee, former director of the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library at Emory University.
This event is free and open to the public; copies of the book will be available for purchase.
About the Book
It’s 1963, and Isabel Hammond, an expat accompanying her agriculture aid worker husband to Nigeria, is hoping to find inspiration for her art and her life. Then she meets charismatic local singer Bobby Tunde, and they share a night of passion that could upend everything. Seeking solace and distraction, she returns to her painting and her home in a rural town where she plants a lemon tree and unearths an ancient statue buried in her garden. She knows that the dancing female figure is not hers to keep, yet she is reluctant to give it up, and soon, she notices other changes that make her wonder what the dancing woman might portend.
Against the backdrop of political unrest in Nigeria, Isabel’s personal situation also becomes precarious. She finds herself in the center of a tide of suspicion, torn between the confines of her domestic life and the desire to immerse herself in her art and the culture that surrounds her. The expat society, the ancient Nigerian culture, her family, and even the statue hidden in a back room—each trouble and beguile Isabel. Amid all of this, can she finally become who she wants to be?
About the Author
Elaine Neil Orr is the author of five books, including the novels "A Different Sun" and "Swimming Between Worlds." Born and raised in Nigeria as the daughter of missionary parents, Orr’s work is deeply rooted in the landscapes of both the American South and the Nigerian South. She is a faculty member at North Carolina State University and at the Naslund-Mann Graduate School of Writing, Spalding University.
About the Conversation Partner
Rosemary M. Magee served as a faculty member, dean, vice-president, and director of the Stuart A. Rose Manuscript and Rare Books Library, now emerita, at Emory University. In her research, writing, and teaching, she has focused on southern women writers. After completing a collection of short stories, "Family Impromptu," she served as co-curator of the exhibition “At the Crossroads with Benny Andrews, Flannery O’ Connor, and Alice Walker.” Her current project focuses on literary friendships.
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