Cupertino 2009 Silicon Valley Reads Essay Contest

Brian Copeland came to Cupertino for a book signing and author talk at the Cupertino Community Center for the Cupertino 2009 Silicon Valley Reads Essay Contest awards ceremony. He spoke about his book, NOT A GENUINE BLACK MAN: MY LIFE AS AN OUTSIDER. He was a dynamic speaker and reached the hearts of many who experienced similar events in life from being outsiders.

Brian was joined by a local panel of long-time Cupertino residents, Steve Ting and Sheila Mohan. Steve and Sheila discussed how each, one from the perspective of a Chinese-American and the other from that of an Indo-American, has been affected by some of the same “outsider” issues described in Brian’s book.

 

Essay Contest Winners

After the panel discussion, officers of the Cupertino Library Foundation announced the four winners of the Essay Contest and presented their prizes to each of them:

• 1st Place, $500: Geneva Ebisu
• 2nd Place, $300: Emily Yi
• 3rd Place, $200: Nan Lee
• 3rd Place, $200: Geeta Subramonian