An observance of International Literacy Day, featuring distinguished international authors reading from their own work, will take place at Headquarters on Monday, 8 September, at 6 p.m. in the Trusteeship Council Chamber. Participating authors include Anita Desai, Edouard Glissant, Jessica Hagedorn, Robert Stone and Luisa Valenzuela. The programme is being organized by the Department of Public Information (DPI) in cooperation with the 92nd Street Y Unterberg Poetry Center, and is co-sponsored by DPI and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
Anita Desai was born in 1937 and educated in New Delhi. Her novels include Clear Light of Day, In Custody, Fire on the Mountain and Baumgartner's Bombay. She has also written several books for children. Ms. Desai teaches at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Edouard Glissant, born in Martinique in 1928, is a poet, playwright, novelist and essayist. He received the Prix Renaudot for his first novel, La L蹡rde, in 1958. Other works include Monsieur Toussaint and Les Indes. From 1980 to 1988 he was Editor of the UNESCO Courier in Paris; he is currently a Distinguished Professor at the City University of New York.
Born and raised in the Philippines, Jessica Hagedorn is a poet, multimedia theatre artist, novelist and screenwriter. Her latest novel is The Gangster of Love, published in 1996. Other works include Dogeaters and Danger and Beauty. Ms. Hagedorn is the editor of Charlie Chan Is Dead: An Anthology of Contemporary Asian-American Fiction.
United States novelist Robert Stone is currently writer-in-residence at Yale University. His new novel, Damascus Gate, is scheduled for publication by Houghton Mifflin in June 1998. Other works include Outerbridge Reach and Dog Soldiers, for which he received the National Book Award in 1975.
Luisa Valenzuela is a novelist and short-story writer from Argentina. Her collection of short stories, Symmetries, is forthcoming from Serpent's Tail. Among her other works are the novels Black Novel (with Argentines) and The Lizard's Tail.
The Unterberg Poetry Center, part of the Tisch Center for the Arts of the 92nd Street Y, has been a leading platform for international literary figures since its founding in 1939. In addition to its long-standing and
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successful reading series, the Poetry Center sponsors such programmes as The Poetry Center Writing Program, The Poetry Center Schools Project and The Poetry Center/Union Settlement Association Literacy Project.
According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the world-wide illiteracy rate has fallen to 23 per cent, down from 45 per cent 50 years ago. The UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor cautions that the overall rate "masks significant disparities. It is in Africa and Asia that illiteracy remains the highest. In 1995, 19 countries had an illiteracy rate equal to or higher than 70 per cent; 14 of them are in Africa and five in Asia. Moreover, the number of illiterates is rising in southern Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab States." Mr. Mayor has called upon governments to redouble their efforts to spread adult education and literacy.
For further information call (212) 963-6923; for media accreditation call (212) 963-6934.
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