On Wednesday, Nov. 18, Hampden-Sydney College will host author Kristen Green. She will be speaking about her book “Something Must Be Done about Prince Edward County” at 4:30 p.m. on the fourth floor of Bortz Library. This talk will be free and open to the public.

Following her reading and presentation, there will be a reception.

Her book, published in June, has evoked widespread praise both for its scrupulous reporting and also for its personal engagement with the subject of the closing of the public schools in Prince Edward County and the founding of Prince Edward Academy. More public than pure memoir, more personal than traditional historical writing, “Something Must Be Done about Prince Edward County” narrates the author’s individual coming to grips with her family’s role in the educational and social history of Farmville and Prince Edward.

A native of Farmville, Green places her story securely within a solidly researched historical narrative. The New York Times has called the book “essential reading,” “not just a work of history but also a story of how resistance to integration still shapes American life.”

While visiting Hampden-Sydney, Green will discuss the craft of writing with students in a creative nonfiction course who have been reading her book this semester; she will also meet with students in the Wilson Center for Leadership in the Public Interest to talk about local decision-making and its long-term impacts on a community.

Green’s visit is sponsored by the Rhetoric Program, the Lectures and Programs Committee, the Wilson Center, the English Department, and the office of the provost and dean of the faculty.