The Berry College Department of Creative Writing hosted an award–winning fiction writer for a reading recently.
Keija Parssinen is the author of “The Ruins of Us” which received the Michener-Copernicus Award. Her second and most recent novel, “The Unraveling of Mercy Louis,” was awarded the Alex Award by the American Library Association and was selected Best Book of the Year by the Kansas City Star, Lone Star Literary Life, Missouri Life, Vox Magazine and Brazos Bookstore.
"The Ruins of Us” addresses love and intolerance through the story of a family in Saudi Arabia adjusting to changes like the father taking a second wife, the mother contemplating leaving her family, and the son’s deepening resentment toward his parents.
Parssinen is an assistant professor of English and creative writing at Kenyon College. She graduated from Princeton University with a B.A. in English before earning her master’s degree in fiction writing at the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
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Written by Public Relations Student Assistant Emily Perry
Office of Public Relations
