Sara Paretsky to Present "Another Turn of the Screw" at Mullins Library

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - The University Libraries, University Women’s Club, and Sisters in Crime, Ozarks Region Chapter, are proud to present internationally acclaimed mystery writer Sara Paretsky at the University Women’s Club annual spring Chautauqua event, 3 p.m. Friday, April 2, in the Helen Robson Walton Reading Room.

When Paretsky introduced her private detective V.I. Warshawski in the novel "Indemnity Only" in 1982, she revolutionized the mystery fiction world. By creating a strong female investigator who uses her wits as well as her fists, Paretsky challenged the limitations of the way women were characterized.

Paretsky said: "I loved detective fiction, but I was troubled by the way women were traditionally portrayed in that genre—they always seemed to be either evil or powerless. I thought it was time for a tough, smart, likable female private investigator, and that’s how V.I. came to life." "Indemnity Only" was followed by ten more best-selling Warshawski novels.

Sara Paretsky grew up in eastern Kansas, where she and her four brothers attended a two-room country school. There, Paretsky began her lifelong love of baseball and underdogs, playing third base for a school team that always finished at the bottom of its rural league.

Her first published writing, which appeared in "The American Girl" magazine when she was 11, told a tale of surviving a tornado with her schoolmates. In 1966, Paretsky went to Chicago to do community service in the neighborhood where Martin Luther King, Jr., was organizing. Staying on to make Chicago her home, she received both a Ph.D. in history and an MBA from the University of Chicago. She lives in the city with her husband, a professor of physics at the University of Chicago.

Paretsky’s deep-rooted concern for social justice, the hallmark of her novels, has carried her voice beyond the world of crime fiction. As a frequent contributor to "The New York Times" op-ed page, and a speaker at such places as the Library of Congress, Oxford University and the University of Chicago, she is an impassioned advocate for those on society’s margins.

Paretsky also has helped open doors for other women writers in the genre. Her role in founding Sisters in Crime, an advocacy organization for women writers, caused "Ms." magazine to name her one of their Women of the Year in 1988. In 2002, the British Crime Writers’ Association awarded her the Cartier Diamond Dagger for lifetime achievement. Paretsky’s work is also celebrated in Pamela Beere Briggs’s 2000 documentary, "Women of Mystery."

The presentation by Paretsky will be followed by an open audience question and answer session. The afternoon will conclude with a reception and book signing by the author. The University Bookstore will offer Paretsky’s latest hardback novel "Blacklist" for sale on site, as well as several paperbacks in the V.I. Warshawski series. For more information, call (479) 575-2962 or visit http://libinfo.uark.edu/info/events.asp.