MEET THE AUTHOR / SPRING 2010

If you are accustomed to attending readings in large auditoriums or amid the bustle of a busy bookstore, you’ll find the experience of our Meet the Author events a welcome change. Here at The Center for Fiction we believe in bringing readers and writers together in the intimate atmosphere of our beautiful Reading Room and following each event with a wine reception that provides ample time to meet and talk with the author and the other book-lovers in attendance. So please come and join us! You’ll meet some of the most acclaimed authors writing today as well as our favorite writers of the future.

Because our space is intimate we ask that you make reservations for our events. To do so, call us at 212-755-6710 or e-mail us at events@centerforfiction.org.

Please note that members of The Center for Fiction attend all "Meet the Author" events for free! For more information on becoming a member of The Center, click here.

Upcoming Events

February 2, 7pm	The Fiction of Fact: Sheila Kohler & Edmund White
February 4, 6:30pm	Forest Gate: Peter Akinti
February 23, 7pm	Craftwork Talk with Colson Whitehead
February 26, 6pm	Chapters with Dolen Perkins-Valdez
March 9, 6:30pm	Contemporary Art of the Novella: Lore Segal, Tao Lin & Dennis Loy Johnson
March 18, 7pm	Mary Gaitskill on Why We Read
March 23, 6:30pm	Even the Dogs: Jon McGregor & John Wray
March 24, 6:30pm	Further Adventures in the Restless Universe: Dawn Raffel
March 26, 6pm	Chapters with Nami Mun
April 10	Books for NYC Schools Day
April 14, 6pm	Fadiman Medal Presentation with Jane Smiley
April 23, 6:30pm	Chapters with Lizzie Skurnick
April 26, 6:30pm	Chapter & Verse: Thomas Hardy with Edward Herrmann & Susan Kinsolving
April 29, 7pm	Craftwork with David Ebershoff
May 10, 6:30pm	Chapter & Verse: D. H. Lawrence with Brian Murray & Susan Kinsolving
May 19, 7pm	Celebration of Akashic Books: Christina Garcia, Arthur Nersesian, Bernice McFadden, James Greer, cohosted by Johnny Temple & Melvin Van Peebles
May 21, 6pm	Chapters with Ru Freeman
June 3, 6:30pm	Sylvan Street: Deborah Schupack
June 18, 6pm	Chapters with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Why We Read

Reading is one of the most intimate acts we participate in—we sit down alone and open a magazine, unfold a newspaper, or crack the spine on an old novel—yet in this act for the individual there is also an element of sharing with another. So why are we drawn to telling and hearing stories, and how do they affect our lives? We’ve asked some of today’s most prominent writers to examine our fundamental need as a humans to create, share, and experience fiction.

Mary Gaitskill
Thursday, March 18th at 7pm
$10 Gen. Admission, Free for Members
[Purchase Tickets Online]

Before Don't Cry , Mary Gaitskill was most recently the author of Because They Wanted To, which was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award in 1998. Her stories and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, Esquire, The Best American Short Stories (1993), and The O. Henry Prize Stories (1998). Her story “Secretary” was the basis for the film of the same name.

The Clifton Fadiman Medal Presentation by Jane Smiley

Wednesday, April 14 at 6:30pm
$15 general admission, Members Free
[Purchase Tickets Online]

This award, with a cash prize of $5,000, was established in 2000 to recognize a work of fiction by a living American author that is deserving of rediscovery and a wider readership. The Center for Fiction enlists a recognized writer to choose a worthy book published no less than ten years ago. This year, acclaimed author Jane Smiley will present the medal to the writer she selects. Smiley is the author of sixteen books, including A Thousand Acres, Horse Heaven, and most recently, The Georges and the Jewels . This award is generously sponsored by Reba and Dave Williams.

Books You'll Love

The title of this series says it all. We’re bringing the authors of some of our new favorite books to read and discuss (and celebrate!) their latest works. Come and listen and then crack that book spine yourself.

The Fiction of Fact: Authors Sheila Kohler & Edmund White in conversation
Tuesday, February 2 at 7pm

The inspiration for fiction often comes from real life. Authors Sheila Kohler and Edmund White are both experts at expanding the bare facts of history into lush and evocative fiction. They come together to discuss Kohler’s new novel Becoming Jane Eyre, whose glowing New York Times review can be read here.

Sheila Kohler is the author of nine books including Cracks, Bluebird or the Invention of Happiness, and most recently Becoming Jane Eyre . She has won an O’Henry Prize, an Open Fiction Award, a Willa Cather Prize, and a Smart Family Foundation Prize.

An esteemed novelist and cultural critic, Edmund White is the author of many books, including Rimbaud, The Double Life of a Rebel; Hotel de Dream; and most recently a memoir, City Boy .

A Party Celebrating Forest Gate by Peter Akinti
Thursday, February 4th at 6:30pm

The far-reaching effects of war are explored in Forest Gate , a debut novel byCenter for Fiction Writers’ Studio alum Peter Akinti. Somali refugees, Meina and Ashvin, struggle to escape their brutal past while trying to survive in the slums of London. The volatile interactions of the immigrants and locals lead to violence, with the characters trapped in a war they never started and cannot end.

Peter Akinti is the founder and editor of Britian’s Untold Magazine. Forest Gate is his first novel.

Jon McGregor in conversation with John Wray
Tuesday, March 23 at 6:30 pm

Jon McGregor’s new novel, Even the Dogs tells the story of one man’s death and of the ramifications his passing has on those around him.

Jon McGregor is the author of If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things and So Many Ways to Begin, both longlisted for the Booker Prize. His new novel Even the Dogs is being published by Bloomsbury in February 2010.

John Wray is the author of three critically acclaimed novels, The Right Hand of Sleep, Canaan’s Tongue, and most recently Lowboy . He was named one of Granta magazine’s Best of Young American Novelists in 2007. The recipient of a Whiting Award, he lives in Brooklyn.

A Party Celebrating Further Adventures in the Restless Universe by Dawn Raffel
Wednesday, March 24 at 6:30pm

In Dawn Raffel’s new collection of short stories, Further Adventures in the Restless Universe , the reader travels through the intimate space of family connections. As each story unfolds Raffel’s spare and unflinchingly prose never backs down.

Dawn Raffel is the author of Carrying the Body and In the Year of Long Division. Her stories have appeared in Open City, Arts & Letters, The Quarterly, NOON and numerous other periodicals and anthologies. She is currently Editor-at-Large at More magazine and an adjunct assistant professor in the MFA program at Columbia University.

A Party Celebrating Sylvan Street by Deborah Schupack
Thursday, June 3 at 6:30pm

Morality and honesty are tested in the petri dish of a quaint New York town when a large sum of money is discovered at a neighborhood party. Resonant with outside-world danger—from the echoes of September 11th to the recent economic crisis—Sylvan Street deftly evokes the darker themes of contemporary suburban life and explores to startling conclusion the power and limitations of money.

Deborah Schupack is the author of a previous novel, The Boy on the Bus, as well as many short stories and newspaper and magazine articles.

Craftwork: Lectures on Writing

Every great story or novel has one thing in common: excellent use of craft. This series, which previously featured Hannah Tinti and A. M. Homes, offers informative talks by writers on the craft of writing and also offers a unique perspective to readers by illuminating the secrets behind some of our favorite stories. This series is presented in collaboration with One Story magazine.

Colson Whitehead
Tuesday, February 23 at 7pm
$8 General Admission, Members Free, Subscribers to One Story Free
[Purchase Tickets Online]

Colson Whitehead’s first novel, The Intuitionist , was a finalist for the PEN/Hemingway and a winner of the Quality Paperback Book Club's New Voices Award. John Henry Days followed in 2001, and was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Los Angeles Times Fiction Award, and the Pulitzer Prize. The novel received the Young Lions Fiction Award and the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award. Whitehead is also the author of The Intuitionist, The Colossus of New York, Apex Hides the Hurt, and most recently Sag Harbor . His reviews, essays, and fiction have appeared in a number of publications, such as the New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, Harper's and Granta. He has received a MacArthur Fellowship, a Whiting Writers Award, and a fellowship at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers.

David Ebershoff
Thursday, April 29 at 7pm
$8 General Admission, Members Free, Subscribers to One Story Free
[Purchase Tickets Online]

David Ebershoff is the author of four books of fiction, including The Danish Girl, The Rose City, and Pasadena. His most recent novel is the international bestseller, The 19th Wife . He has won a number of awards, including the Rosenthal Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Lambda Literary Award, and the Ferro-Grumley Award for excellence in gay and lesbian literature. Ebershoff currently teaches in the graduate writing program at Columbia University and is an editor-at-large at Random House.

CHAPTERS: Women Mentoring Girls

This series inaugurates a new partnership between Girls Write Now! and The Center for Fiction. Girls Write Now is a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing guidance, support, and opportunities for New York City's underserved or at-risk high school girls. The events feature NYC high school writers, the professional writers who mentor them, and special guest speakers. The guest speakers are highlighted below.

Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Friday, February 26 at 6pm

Dolen Perkins-Valdez's is a 2009 finalist for the Robert Olen Butler Fiction Award. She is a faculty member of the University of Puget Sound where she teaches Creative Writing. Her first novel, Wench , was published in January 2010.

Nami Mun
Friday, March 26 at 6pm

Nami Mun is a 2009 Whiting Award recipient. Her first novel, Miles from Nowhere , was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writing. Her stories have been published in the 2007 Pushcart Prize Anthology, Iowa Review, Tin House, and other publications.

Lizzie Skurnick
Friday, April 23 at 6pm

Lizzie Skurnick is the author of Shelf Discovery . The author of ten books for popular YA series like Sweet Valley High, she's also a poet and blogger whose work has appeared everywhere from NPR to the Daily Beast to the New York Times Book Review.

Ru Freeman
Friday, May 21 at 6pm

Ru Freeman is an author and activist. Her creative and political writing has appeared internationally. Her debut novel, A Disobedient Girl is published in the US and Canada by Atria/Simon & Schuster and in the UK by Viking.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Friday, June 18 6pm

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a Nigerian writer and 2008 MacArthur Fellow whose most recent work of fiction, The Thing Around Your Neck , is a collection of short stories. Her first novel, Purple Hibiscus, won the 2005 Commonwealth Writers Prize and was shortlisted for the 2004 Orange Prize for Fiction and longlisted for the 2004 Booker Prize. Her second novel, Half of a Yellow Sun won the 2007 Orange Broadband Prize for Fiction.

Chapter and Verse

Rarely does one writer master two genres. Only a few prodigious literary talents have created great works of both prose and poetry. In this series, we will explore and celebrate those writers. We’ll hear these writers’ poetry read by New York’s finest actors, with commentary by poet Susan Kinsolving, author of The White Eyelash, Dailies & Rushes, and Among Flowers. This series is generously sponsored by Reba and Dave Williams.

Thomas Hardy, Novelist & Poet, with Edward Herrmann
Monday, April 26 at 7pm, a reception will start at 6:30pm

A popular and acclaimed novelist, Thomas Hardy was prolific, but he barely withstood the attacks on his book, Tess of the D'Urbervilles . Later, when scandal surrounded his masterpiece, Jude the Obscure , Hardy abandoned prose. At the age of 57, he began his concentration on verse. Now he is regarded as one of England’s greatest poets. Emmy Award-winning actor Edward Herrmann will read Hardy’s famous words about a fateful place named Wessex.

D. H. Lawrence, A Visionary Called Pornographer, with Brian Murray
Monday, May 10 at 7pm, a reception will start at 6:30pm

Spontaneity, instinct, vitality, sexuality, and censorship swirl through D.H. Lawrence's novels, poems, essays, and plays. His most famous book, Lady Chatterley's Lover had its first edition in Italy in 1928, but was refused publication in the United Kingdom until 1960. Despite trials of every sort, Lawrence continually explored the complexities of human behavior. Passages from stories and poems will be presented by Broadway star Brian Murray.

The Good Fight: Celebrating Literary Magazines and Small Presses

The Center for Fiction has always been a strong proponent of the literature that independent presses and magazines publish. As part of this ongoing series, which was begun in fall 2009, we’re presenting events that highlight the work of two small presses, Melville House and Akashic Books.

The Contemporary Art of the Novella, a panel with Lore Segal, Tao Lin and Dennis Loy Johnson
Tuesday, March 9 at 6:30pm

We’re pleased to shine the light on independent publisher Melville House’s series The Contemporary Art of the Novella with a panel featuring some of the series’ contributors. The novella is an art of the in-between—not quite short story, not quite novel—and this series of books aims to highlight works that haven’t reached their full audience.

Lore Segal is the author of Other People's Houses , winner of the 2007 Fadiman Medal from The Center for Fiction, as well as Lucinella , Her First American, and most recently, the story collection Shakespeare’s Kitchen, which was a finalist for the 2008 Pulitzer Prize.

Tao Lin is the author of Shoplifting from American Apparel , You Are A Little Bit Happier Than I Am, Bed and the novel Eeeee Eee Eeee. Lin’s next novel, Richard Yates, will be published in the fall of 2010.

Dennis Loy Johnson is the co-founder and publisher of Melville House. Johnson is also a much-anthologized short story writer and is the author of the book The Big Chill: The Great, Unreported Story of the Bush Inauguration Protest , and the editor, with Valerie Merians, of the anthologies Poetry After 9/11 and What We Do Now.

A Celebration of Akashic Books with readings by Cristina Garcia, Arthur Nersesian, Bernice McFadden, and James Greer hosted by Melvin Van Peebles and Johnny Temple
Wednesday at May 19th at 7pm

We’re throwing a party to celebrate the spring publications of Akashic Books, a Brooklyn-based independent company dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political nonfiction by authors outside of the mainstream.

Cristina Garcia is the best-selling author of Dreaming in Cuban . Her debut poetry volume The Lesser Tragedy of Death will be published this spring.

Arthur Nersesian is the author of many books set in New York including the forthcoming novel Mesopotamia .

Bernice McFadden is a best-selling author based out of Brooklyn. Her new novel is Glorious .

James Greer is the author of Artificial Light , which won a California Book Award for Best Debut Novel, and the nonfiction book Guided By Voices: A Brief History, a biography about a band for which he once played bass guitar.

Melvin Van Peebles has been equally prolific across several media, establishing his legacy not only as the iconoclastic founding father of modern African American cinema but black Broadway theater as well, producing, writing, directing, and sometimes even acting in his groundbreaking endeavors.

Johnny Temple is the publisher and editor-in-chief of Akashic Books, an award-winning Brooklyn-based independent company dedicated to publishing urban literary fiction and political nonfiction.

Books for NYC Schools Day
Saturday, April 10

Join us as The Center for Fiction partners with ReadThis to present a day-long extravaganza to celebrate reading and collect books for New York City public school students in need. Bring your family and your new or gently used books for children or young adults to the Center and participate in readings by great authors, workshops for kids, and other literary activities. This is a great way to support reading and to share with others your love of books. And to help support the event, along with all your children's and YA books, please bring some gently used adult-level books to donate to the Center for Fiction bookshop.

For more information or to RSVP for any of these events, please call (212) 755-6710 or email info@centerforfiction.org