EMU welcomed author Patricia Grace King ’89 back to campus Oct. 8 for a Writers Read featuring selections from her new book, Those Who Vanish.
The event, moderated by Esther Harder ’03 and co-sponsored by EMU’s Spanish and English departments, was part of Homecoming and Inauguration Weekend.
King, who taught students including Harder and Dean Rev. Dr. Sarah Ann Bixler ’02 as a professor in EMU’s Language and Literature Department from 2000-03, now lives in Durham, England. Her short story collection, published last month by the University of Pittsburgh Press, won the 2026 Drue Heinz Literature Prize.
The eight fictional stories explore the intersection of Guatemalan and U.S. cultures against the backdrop of Guatemala’s political history. The collection follows Guatemalan citizens and North American expatriates whose lives become entangled amid war and draws on King’s experiences living in the country after graduating from EMU.
“I owe a lot of this book to EMU’s cross-cultural program,” she said. “That’s pretty much how it started.”
Good fiction can awaken readers to the wider world, King said.
“It gives us a wider experience of humanity. It makes us aware that our experience isn’t the only experience, and that we’re not just one thing. The world isn’t just one thing and people are many things. I hope this book can do that.”
Watch a recording of the event below!
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