Jennine Capó Crucet is an insightful writer who uses humor and compassion to explore how community impacts individuals’ perspectives. She was born to Cuban parents and raised in Miami. Her debut book, How to Leave Hialeah, won the Iowa Short Fiction Award, the John Gardner Prize, the Devil’s Kitchen Reading Award in Prose, and was named a Best Book of the Year by both the Miami Herald and the Miami New Times. The title story from her collection won her an O. Henry Prize and will appear in the 2011 O. Henry Prize Anthology.

On March 3, 2011 the Office of the Dean for Graduate Education hosted the author for a reading and book signing. Brief introductory comments by Senior Associate Dean Blanche Staton. Author Jennine Capó Crucet does a reading from her book, then takes questions from the audience.