Chris Abani is a poet and a professor, a prisoner and a rebel, a seeker and a son. At his core, Abani is a storyteller whose mission is to share tales of "everyday people" changing the world in extraordinary ways.
And when he speaks in the Twin Cities on April 11, the most extraordinary story will be about how Abani, an internationally acclaimed Nigerian novelist who came to address the students, families and the community at Chanhassen High School for a mere $5,000.
All because one student refused to hear no.
"It frustrates me when somebody says I can't do something," said George Glaros III, a 17-year-old Chanhassen High junior who is the reason Abani, a professor at the University of California-Riverside, will stop in the Twin Cities on his way to engagements on the East Coast. "Naturally," Glaros said, "I had to go and do it."
Glaros was born in Washington, D.C., where his friends were as likely to be homeless as the children of politicians. His family -- parents George Jr. and Cynthia, and sister, Kristina, 23 -- moved to Minnesota when he was in eighth grade.
His sophomore-year English teacher, Lara Etnier, introduced him to Abani's work, including a conference in which the writer speaks about humanity (www.tinyurl.com/nulvd7). "Hearing him say that really touched me, especially with his experiences," Glaros said.
Abani grew up under a military dictatorship and was imprisoned by the Nigerian government as a teenager for his writings. He speaks gently of his late mother, a 5-foot-2 woman with five children, "who stood up to soldiers who wanted to kill us." He is the recipient of the PEN Freedom-to-Write Award and the Hemingway/PEN Prize for his bestselling novel, "Graceland."
Glaros, working this year as an aid to Etnier, hounded her to put him on the school's Diversity Council. Then he persuaded her to let him attempt "something big." He would bring Abani to speak during Diversity Week.