Alex Gilvarry discusses his new novel Eastman Was Here, reading about Norman Mailer, and how the Vietnam war movies of his childhood scared him straight.
National Book Award winner Richard Powers read from his new novel, Orfeo, and discussed the book at McNally Jackson Books. The novel combines the past and present of protagonist Peter Els while relying heavily on music to propel the narrative, the third of Powers’s books to integrate music into the text.
The experience of art became the focus of the evening when Geoff Dyer and Ben Lerner came together for a reading and conversation moderated by Lorin Stein, editor of The Paris Review at McNally Jackson Books. Dyer read from his book, Zona: A Book About a Film About a Journey to a Room (November 2013), that looks at the personal experience of viewing Andrei Tarkovsky’s film Stalker. Ben Lerner read from his novel Leaving the Atocha Station (2011).
The Poetry Society of America brought together poets Ana Božičević and Ann Lauterbach for a reading at McNally Jackson Books. The reading was the third in a series organized by the Poetry Society of America. Previous readers from the series included Angelo Nikolopoulos paired with C. K. Williams and Nick Laird paired with Meghan O’Rourke.
Ana Božičević read from her latest collection, Rise in the Fall, published by Birds. Božičević and her little dog Klaus took to the stage to read, Klaus secure in her purse. She explained that she snuck the dog in, and that it was his first poetry reading. Klaus was well behaved.
Two giants of modern British literature came together to discuss their differences and read from their recent novels. Will Self, who is also a literal giant, read from his latest novel, Umbrella and Martin Amis read from Lionel Asbo.
Tom Barbash was promoting his new collection of stories, Stay Up With Me at McNally Jackson Books alongside Mary Gaitskill, who was late. Stephen Elliott, author and founding editor of The Rumpus, briefly introduced Barbash in her place. Gaitskill would arrive later to join Barbash in a discussion and moderate questions from the audience. Barbash […]
Justin Taylor, author of Everything Here Is the Best Thing Ever, joined Jeff Jackson at McNally Jackson Books to celebrate the release of Jackson’s debut novel Mira Corpora. Jackson is a playwright known for experimental projects, while Taylor teaches at Columbia and has a forthcoming essay collection. Taylor begins by reading a story from Everything […]