Michael Chabon
November 12 2003, 7:30 PM
Benaroya Hall's Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall
Michael Chabon received the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for
The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the story of two cousins, one a Czech immigrant, the other American, who together write comic books about a superhero called the Escapist. His other books include
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Wonder Boys, and
Summerland. He has also written the screenplays for
Kavalier & Clay and
Spider-Man 2. Chabon's forthcoming book,
Hatzeplatz, is a thriller inspired by FDR's proposal to create a Jewish homeland, not in the Middle East, but in Alaska. He lives in Berkeley, California.
Gina Nahai
December 3 2003, 7:30 PM
Benaroya Hall's Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall
Like many Iranian Jews, Gina Nahai left her homeland for good in the wake of the 1979 revolution. And yet, it is a world she often returns to in her fiction. The characters in
Cry ofthe Peacock and
Moonlight on the Avenue of Faith are drawn from Nahai's own sprawling multi-cultural family. One grandmother was French Catholic; one grandfather a Lubavitcher rabbi. Steeped in history and folklore, her novels are a window onto one of the oldest communities in the Diaspora. Gina Nahai teaches creative writing at the University of Southern California.
I'm a Stranger Here Myself
Co-sponsored by Book-It Repertory Theatre
February 4 2004, 7:30 PM
Benaroya Hall's Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall
Ever since Jews arrived in America 350 years ago, they have had to grapple with how to be Jewish and American. For some, this has led to a sense of alienation from both cultures—a feeling of being strangers among their own people and in their own land. In partnership with Book-It Repertory Theatre, Nextbook presents an evening of dramatic readings, featuring stories of estrangement and homecoming by Max Apple, Grace Paley, and Lev Raphael. Since 1990, Book-It Repertory Theatre has been turning great literature into great theater through simple and sensitive productions.
Edward Hirsch & Philip Levine
March 10 2004, 7:30 PM
Benaroya Hall's Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall
Edward Hirsch, the author of six books of poems, including
On Love and
Lay Back the Darkness, is ever seeking to bring together "the two great impulses of poetry," elegy and praise. A distinguished critic and teacher, he writes a weekly column on poetry for the
Washington Post Book World. Philip Levine is one of America's most celebrated poets—winner of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize. In books like
What Work Is, The Simple Truth, and
The Mercy, he has captured—perhaps better than any other poet—the physical and emotional lives of working class Americans.
Anne Michaels
May 19 2004, 7:30 PM
Benaroya Hall's Illsley Ball Nordstrom Recital Hall
Most Canadian novels never make it across the border into U.S. bookstores, but Anne Michaels'
Fugitive Pieces became an international bestseller in 1997 and has since been translated into 25 languages. The novel tells the story of Jakob Beer, a seven-year-old Jewish boy, rescued from the Nazis by a Greek archaeologist and brought to Canada, where he grows up to become a poet. The novel received the Lannan Literary Award for fiction and the Guardian Fiction Award. Anne Michaels is also the author of three collections of poems, including
The Weight of Oranges and
Skin Divers.