Camarillo, CA - CSU Channel Islands (CI) will welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning, best-selling author Junot Díaz as the featured guest at its eighth annual Campus Reading Celebration, Thursday, Oct. 11, at 6:30 p.m. in the Grand Salon on the CI campus. Díaz will sign copies of his books after his presentation.

The Campus Reading Celebration is an annual event that unites the CI campus community, the public and noted authors in a dialogue about culturally and socially significant books and their underlying themes. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao, chosen by CI students as this year's Campus Reading Celebration book, recounts the life of Oscar, a sweet but disastrously overweight ghetto nerd who dreams of becoming the Dominican J.R.R. Tolkien and, most of all, finding love.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is an overwhelming critical success, winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2008, John Sargent, Sr. First Novel Prize, the Dayton Peace Prize in Fiction, the National Book Critics Circle Award, as well as appearing in more than 35 best-of-the-year book lists. New York magazine named it the Best Novel of the Year and Time magazine named it No. 1 of the Top 10 Fiction Books of 2007. Miramax acquired the rights for a film adaptation in 2007.

Born in the Dominican Republic, raised in New Jersey, and educated at Rutgers College, Díaz is the author of three acclaimed novels: Drown (1997), The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (2007), and This Is How You Lose Her (released Sept. 11, 2012). His short fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, which listed him as one of the 20 top writers for the 21st century, African Voices, Best American Short Stories (1996, 1997, 1999, 2000), in Pushcart Prize XXII and in The O’Henry Prize Stories 2009.

Reservations are required for this event and can be made online at: http://www.csuci.edu/crc/. Admission for CI students, faculty, and staff is free. The cost for community members is $10 and $5 for non-CI students.

Complimentary event parking is limited and only in the designated parking lot. Follow the directional signage to the event parking. Free parking is available at the Camarillo Metrolink Station/Lewis Road parking lot in Camarillo. In order to waive bus fares, riders should present their event registration confirmation when boarding the CI VISTA bus; otherwise, bus fares are $1.25 each way. Buses arrive and depart from the Camarillo Metrolink Station every 30 minutes from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. For exact times, check the schedule at www.goventura.org.

For additional information contact Merissa Stith, Events Coordinator, at 805-437-8548 or merissa.stith@csuci.edu.

About California State University Channel Islands
CSU Channel Islands (CI) is celebrating 10 years of education, innovation, growth and community enrichment during the 2012/2013 academic year. We salute our faculty, staff, students, alumni, supporters, and partners who continue the CI mission of a student-centered education emphasizing international and multicultural perspectives with interdisciplinary and experiential service-oriented learning.

Together, we are solving the problems of today, preparing the leaders and innovators of tomorrow, and contributing to the vitality of higher education.

CSU Channel Islands – A Decade of Distinction