British novelist Helen Oyeyemi is coming to Langley next week for an appearance at Whidbey Island Center for the Arts’ Literary Series.

The event is part of a new literary series offered by WICA in conjunction with Hedgebrook, the women writers’ retreat.

“An Afternoon with Helen Oyeyemi” is 4 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 5 at WICA.

Oyeyemi is a British novelist who was born in Nigeria and moved to London as a child.

She wrote her first novel, “The Icarus Girl,” while still in high school. She was offered a two-book deal after sending 20 pages of the novel to a publisher.

She studied social and political sciences at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, graduating in 2006. While at Cambridge, two of her plays, “Juniper’s Whitening” and “Victimese” were performed by her fellow students to critical acclaim and were subsequently published by Methuen.

In 2007, Bloomsbury published her second novel “The Opposite House” which is inspired by Cuban mythology.

Oyeyemi currently resides in New York.

Oyeyemi and special guests will be reading from “The Icarus Girl,” and her new work “pie-kah” (to be published in 2009).

Tickets cost $5 and are available at www.WICAonline.com or by calling 221-8268 or 800-638-7631.