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Da Chen

Award-winning, best-selling author

A sample of what our students had to say after their visit with Da;

"A life-changing experience."

"Da Chen was FANTASTIC, insightful, wise!"

"Da Chen was all things - hilarious, a great story teller and he was very enlightening."

"Da's presentation was the perfect blend of information, humor, drama, personal antecdote and thought-provoking ideas."

Da Chen Signed Books

Da visits with students at Amherst in Summer 2011

Da Chen is a novelist, memoirist, children’s book author and speaker who grew up in a small Fujian village in the deep south of China. His first memoir, Colors of the Mountain, was a New York Times bestseller and his children’s adaptation of the same work, China’s Son, was widely recognized by the American Library Association, the New York Public Library, and others.

His first adult fiction, Brothers is a sprawling, family saga, complete with assassinations, love affairs, narrowly missed opportunities, and the ineluctable fulfillment of destiny.

Da’s first fiction for young readers, Wandering Warrior is described by USA Today as “China’s answer to [Harry] Potter.” The movie rights were optioned by Warner Brothers.

A brush calligrapher of considerable spirituality who also plays the classical bamboo flute, Da Chen lives in New York's Hudson Valley with his wife and two young children.

His newest novel, My Last Empress, is scheduled for publication by Crown in 2012.

For more information about Da Chen please visit his website.

"I am deeply impressed by many aspects of this program, including the warmth and professionalism of the staff, the rigor and creativity of the curriculum, and the physical beauty of its setting. But what impresses me most, are the students themselves."

Dr. Debby Applegate, Pulitzer Prize-winning author

"Every summer, all I have to do is mosey on down from my hilltop home overlooking Amherst College, and walk into an ongoing conversation about the Big Stuff. It always feels like an intellectual transfusion."

Dr. Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize-winning author

"I will mark Amherst as my most memorable event of the year, simply because of the smartest and most generous kids I was surrounded with. I wish they could be my students forever..." "

Da Chen, award-winning, best-selling author

"What a terrific curriculum and an enthusiastic group of young people. Made me want to drop everything and sign up."

Barry Eisler, best-selling author

"The students were such an engaged and smart and interesting group. I really enjoyed talking to them but mostly just appreciated being asked such a varied array of questions. It was a lot of fun."

Jacob Lewis, former managing editor of The New Yorker magazine and co-founder of Figment.com

"The Great Books program is a midsummer night's dream- I adored the kids and it all felt so alive and was so much fun! The faculty was warm and embracing. So important to keep literature alive and connect with kids who want to read books! "

Laura Shaine Cunningham Memoirist, novelist, playwright and journalist

"I enjoyed talking to and listening to the your kids. They are an impressive bunch. "

Dr. Richard Reeves Award-winning author, journalist and documentary filmmaker

"I loved my experience with the Great Books Summer Program. The students were brilliant and involved even beyond my expectations, really the ideal young audience for a writer. "

Peter Straub, Award-winning author

"I give a lot of talks to a lot of groups all over the country and world, but I've never had a more engaged, interested and interesting audience than the students at the Great Books Summer Program. They were clearly primed to learn and think. I hope I gave them some useful ideas about writing and the writing life; I know they inspired me. "

Kurt Andersen, Award-winning author, editor and co-creator of Studio 360 radio show

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