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Author Of 'Green Rider' Fantasy Fiction Series To Visit Ithaca College

ITHACA, NY — The author of the “Green Rider” fantasy fiction series will read from her work and talk about the art of fantasy writing at Ithaca College on Tuesday, April 21. Kristen Britain, a 1987 Ithaca College graduate, will give her free public presentation at 7:30 p.m. in Clark Lounge, Egbert Hall.

Britain published her first book, “Green Rider,” to critical success in 1998. The epic story of a heroine who battles evil forces was a finalist for the Compton Crook/Stephen Tall Memorial Award for best first novel and was voted one of the five best first science fiction/fantasy novels by subscribers of “Locus Magazine.” It was also a featured selection of the Science Fiction Book Club. She subsequently published the sequels “First Rider’s Call” (2003) and “The High King’s Tomb” (2007).

Britain majored in film production and minored in writing at Ithaca College. She was encouraged by Katharyn Howd Machan of the Department of Writing to develop her love of fantasy further and keep it an active part of her life. Inspired by the National Women’s Hall of Fame in Seneca Falls to pursue employment in national parks, she served for several years as a ranger working in a variety of natural and historical settings, from high on the Continental Divide to 300 feet below the surface of the Earth. She still lives among nature — in a log cabin on an island in Maine — and supports herself with her fiction writing.

The reading is cosponsored by the women’s studies program; the Department of Sociology and Department of Writing (through the School of Humanities and Sciences Alumni Visitors Fund); and the Office of Alumni Relations. For more information, contact Katharyn Howd Machan at machan@ithaca.edu or (607) 274-3325.