Cleveland author to speak at library

Clevelander Kristin Ohlson, the award-winning author of "The Beauty Shops of Kabul," and "Stalking The Divine," will give a talk Wednesday, March 5 at 6 p.m. at the Oberlin Public Library.

The event is free and open to the public and is part of the first Wednesday series sponsored by OPL and the Oberlin Writers Group. Ohlson will discuss her life as a freelance journalist, essayist, and fiction writer and take part in a book signing after the talk.

Ohlson was the ghost writer of "Kabul Beauty School: An American Woman Goes Behind the Veil." The book hit No. 10 on the New York Times best-seller list when it was published and star Sandra Bullock recently bought the movie rights.

The engrossing true story of Deborah Rodriguez, a beautician from Michigan who teaches women in Afghanistan how to give killer highlights and bikini waxes, "Kabul Beauty School" is also a remarkable tale of an extraordinary community of women who come together and learn the arts of perms, friendship, and freedom.

"Stalking The Divine" is an inspirational personal odyssey into the heart of spiritual life that offers a poignant study of the Poor Clares, a tiny congregation of cloistered elderly nuns in Cleveland whose mission is to pray day and night, 24 hours a day, for the sorrows of the world. In the book, Ohlson describes the remarkable and joyful dedication of these women to their faith.

Ohlson was awarded a major Ohio Arts Council fellowship for fiction for 2003-2004. She has taught freshman composition and creative nonfiction at Cleveland State University and conducts a poetry workshop inside the Cuyahoga County jail.

She has published articles and essays in the New York Times, Salon.com, Ms, the Oprah Magazine, Discover, New Scientist, Gourmet, Vegetarian Times, More, Food & Wine, Tin House, Poets & Writers, Sojourners, Industry Week, and many other publications. Her fiction has appeared in literary magazines, including West Branch, the Indiana Review and online at Reading Divas and Verbsap.

The Oberlin Writers Group is now in its fifth year and meets Wednesdays from 6-8 p.m. at the library. Call 775-4790 for more information.