Humorist and pop-culture critic Joe Queenan will join novelists Michael Ondaatje and le thi diem thuy for the University's annual Fall Festival of Authors Oct. 25-Nov. 2.

All three authors will read from their works and sign books.

Queenan is known for his biting and funny critiques of Americas pop culture. Ondaatje is the best-selling author of The English Patient and Anil's Ghost, and le thi diem thuy has earned critical acclaim for her first novel, The Gangster We Are All Looking For, her memoir of growing up in a South Vietnamese family in America.

The events, which are free and open to the public, will take place at 6 p.m. in the School of Law Auditorium. Le thi diem thuy will be featured Oct. 25, with Queenan on Oct. 26, and Ondaatje on Nov. 2.

For more information, call Elise Blackwell, an assistant professor of English, at 7-2058. A complete schedule is available online at www.sc.edu/library/fallfestival.html.

Le thi diem thuy left her native South Vietnam as a young child, spending time in a refugee camp in Singapore before settling in San Diego with her father. She has lived in Massachusetts since graduating from Hampshire College in 1994. Her first novel, The Gangster We Are All Looking For, is a memoir of her traumatic family history, revealing the life of a Vietnamese family who escaped violence and fled to America. Released in 2003, it has been lauded by critics and called "heartbreaking and exhilarating" by The New York Times.

Queenan, an American satirist and humorist whose columns appear in magazines and national newspapers, has written nine books. Among them are Queenan Country: A Reluctant Anglophile's Pilgrimage to the Mother Country, a recount of a trip to Great Britain in 2002; Red Lobster, White Trash, and the Blue Lagoon, a witty journey through the worst of American pop culture; and Balsamic Dreams: A Short but Self-Important History of the Baby Boomer Generation, a wry look at the essence of what he ranks as the 267th best generation, right behind the Carthaginians in 220 B.C. His columns and features appear in top publications, ranging from Men's Health, GQ, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, and Smart Money to Great Britain's The Guardian and Sweden's Bon to Time.

Ondaatje, a Sri Lankan native of Indian/Dutch ancestry, grew up in London and moved to Canada while a student in the 1960s. His novel The English Patient won the British Commonwealth's Booker Prize in 1992 and was made into an Oscar-winning movie. Anil's Ghost, his most recent novel, has won top literary awards in Canada and France. In addition to novels, Ondaatje has written numerous collections of poetry, including, Handwriting, his most recent.

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