Media Contact: Kate Callen at (619) 534-0361 or kcallen@ucsd.edu

SHERLEY ANNE WILLIAMS: A CELEBRATION OF HER LIFE AND LEGACY 

Editors Note: Photo Available

A celebration of the life and legacy of Sherley Anne Williams, professor of literature and writing at the University of California, San Diego, will take place Thursday, October 21, from 4:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. in the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre on the UCSD campus.

Williams, a leading African American novelist, poet, playwright and professor best known for her historical novel "Dessa Rose," died July 6 at Kaiser Permanente Hospital of cancer. She was 54 years old.

The celebration will feature a dramatic reading from "Dessa Rose," a restaging of a reading at the May 1998 UCSD conference on "Black Women Writers and the 'High Art' of Afro-American Letters." The conference was organized to celebrate the 12th anniversary of the publication of the novel and to pay homage to Williams.

Professional actors who will participate in the reading include Sandra Ellis-Troy, T. Ford, Sylvia M'Lafi Thompson, Arnold Spearman and Bill Dunnam.

The celebration also will feature readings of Williams' poetry. 

For further information, please contact the UCSD Literature Department by phone at (858) 534-3216 or by e-mail at litinfo@ucsd.edu.