News Release

Ninth annual Women’s Week
to start Friday (March 24)

CHAPEL HILL — Alisa Valdes, best-selling novelist and one of Time magazine’s 25 most influential Hispanics in America, will give the keynote lecture for the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s ninth annual Women’s Week.

The Carolina Women’s Center will sponsor events during the week, which begins Friday (March 24). Valdes, who wrote "Playing With Boys," will read from her work and sign copies of her books Tuesday (March 28) at 3 p.m. in the art gallery of the Frank Porter Graham Student Union. She will speak at 7 p.m. in the union auditorium.

Other events during the week will include:

• March 28, 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Women’s Health Fair. Free blood pressure screenings and information on breast self-exams will be available in the Pit.
• March 29, 6 p.m. "Take Back the Night" march. Chris Kilmartin, who brought the White Ribbon Campaign to the United States, will speak at a rally on the steps of Wilson Library, followed by a march across campus. The campaign is an international movement of men speaking out against violence toward women. Take Back the Night events worldwide support a return of safety after dark for women and raise awareness about sexual assault and violence against women.
• March 30, 7 p.m. "Body and Sold." Deborah Lake Fortson’s play – based on the stories of eight runaway youths who turned to prostitution – will be performed in the auditorium of UNC’s Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History, off South Road beside the Bell Tower.

For a complete schedule of the week’s events, go to http://womenscenter.unc.edu/events/index.html.

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Carolina Women’s Center contact: Chimi Boyd, (919) 962-8305 or chimi_boyd@unc.edu

News Services contact: L.J. Toler, (919) 962-8589