Visiting Writers Series Hosts Kim van Alkemade

Pacific University kicks off its 2015-2016 Visiting Writers Series with an appearance by Kim van Alkemade. She speaks at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 24, in Taylor Auditorium (Marsh 216), in an event (pdf) that is free and open to the public.

Van Alkemade is the author of the historical novel Orphan #8, published this year by HarperCollins. She spent eight years writing Orphan #8. Her research grew from an interest in the Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York, where her grandfather and uncles grew up. The inspiration for her novel specifically came from a motion she found made by orphanage directors in 1920 for the purchase of wigs for children who had been used for radiation experiments.

Van Alkemade holds a BA in English and history and an MA and PhD in English. Her creative nonfiction essays have appeared in literary journals including Alaska Quarterly Review, CutBank, and So To Speak. Alkemade lives in Carlisle, Pa., and is a writing professor at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania.