Nathan Englander

A Room of One's Own is proud to host Nathan Englander, one of the most talented writers in the Madison area for a reading from his short story collection, What We Talk about When We Talk about Anne Frank, out in paperback March 2013.

Nathan Englander is the author of the short story collection What We Talk about When We Talk about Anne Frank, as well as the internationally bestselling story collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, and the novel The Ministry of Special Cases (all published by Knopf/Vintage). His short fiction and essays have appeared in The New Yorker, The New York Times, The Atlantic Monthly, and The Washington Post, as well as The O. Henry Prize Stories and numerous editions of The Best American Short Stories. Translated into more than a dozen languages, Englander was selected as one of “20 Writers for the 21st Century” by The New Yorker, received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a PEN/Malamud Award, the Bard Fiction Prize, and the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. He lives in Brooklyn, New York and Madison, Wisconsin.

About What We Talk about When We Talk about Anne Frank: These eight new stories from the celebrated novelist and short-story writer Nathan Englander display a gifted young author grappling with the great questions of modern life, with a command of language and the imagination that place Englander at the very forefront of contemporary American fiction.

The title story, inspired by Raymond Carver’s masterpiece, is a provocative portrait of two marriages in which the Holocaust is played out as a devastating parlor game. In the outlandishly dark “Camp Sundown” vigilante justice is undertaken by a group of geriatric campers in a bucolic summer enclave. “Free Fruit for Young Widows” is a small, sharp study in evil, lovingly told by a father to a son. “Sister Hills” chronicles the history of Israel’s settlements from the eve of the Yom Kippur War through the present, a political fable constructed around the tale of two mothers who strike a terrible bargain to save a child. Marking a return to two of Englander’s classic themes, “Peep Show” and “How We Avenged the Blums” wrestle with sexual longing and ingenuity in the face of adversity and peril. And “Everything I Know About My Family on My Mother’s Side” is suffused with an intimacy and tenderness that break new ground for a writer who seems constantly to be expanding the parameters of what he can achieve in the short form.

Beautiful and courageous, funny and achingly sad, Englander’s work is a revelation.

Author photo credit: Juliana Sohn

Location: Street: 315 W. Gorham St. City: Madison, Province: Wisconsin Postal Code: 53703-2218 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Eight stories from Nathan Englander, the celebrated young author who has rapidly established himself at the forefront of contemporary American fiction. Each of the stories reveals Englander’s remarkable capacity for wit and sadness, darkness and tenderness. The author of the short story collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges and the acclaimed novel, The Ministry of Special Cases, Englander is unique in writing richly developed and non-traditional stories that signify a master at work. What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank gives the reader a panoply of emotions from anguish and pain to tender humor and more. Englander lives in New York.

Cost: $20 for adults; $18 for students and seniors (MDGentleReader)… (more)

Venue: St. Louis County Library

These eight new stories from the celebrated novelist and short-story writer Nathan Englander display a gifted young author grappling with the great questions of modern life. His stories tackle marriages and parlor games, vigilante justice of geriatric campers, the nature of evil, the history of Israel's settlements, a political fable, sexual longing and ingenuity, and more. Englander is also the author of the award-winning collection, For the Relief of Unbearable Urges.

Location: Street: St. Louis County Library Additional: 1640 S. Lindbergh City: Saint Louis, Province: Missouri Postal Code: 63131 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Venue: Jewish Community Center

Nathan Englander appears in a live, on-stage interview with Ezra Glinter from The Jewish Forward to discuss What We Talk about When We Talk about Anne Frank. For tickets to the Jewish Book Festival or this event, or for more information, call 314.442.3299 or visit stljewishbookfestival.org.

Location: Street: Jewish Community Center, Staenberg Family Complex Additional: 2 Millstone Campus Drive City: Saint Louis, Province: Missouri Postal Code: 63146 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Nathan Englander, the internationally acclaimed author of the novel The Ministry of Special Cases and the story collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, discusses and signs his latest story collection, What We Talk about When We Talk about Anne Frank.

These eight new stories display Englander grappling with the great questions of modern life, with a command of language and the imagination that place him at the forefront of contemporary American fiction.

Location: Street: Harold Washington Library Additional: 400 S. State Street City: Chicago, Province: Illinois Postal Code: 60605 Country: United States (added from IndieBound)… (more)

Nathan Englander discusses Ministry of Special Cases.

Novelist Nathan Englander, author of Ministry of Special Cases, gives this month's talk in the Kansas City Public Library's ongoing Writers at Work series on Wednesday, April 2, at 7 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

Set at the start of Argentina's Dirty War (1976-83), Ministry of Special Cases is the story of “one spectacularly hopeless man” trying to overcome his history and his name and set things right for once in his life. The book centers on a single family, but manages to capture the grief of an entire nation during one of the most brutal campaigns the world has ever known.

Englander is also the author of For the Relief of Unbearable Urges, published in 1999, an international bestseller and the winner of the PEN/Faulkner Malamud Award and the Sue Kaufman Prize for First Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.

Englander's books will be available courtesy of Rainy Day Books, and the author will sign copies purchased during the event.

Writers at Work is organized by Kansas City novelist Whitney Terrell and co-sponsored by Chris Davis, and the English Department at UMKC.

Admission is free. A 6:30 p.m. reception precedes the event. Complete the form below or call 816.701.3407 to indicate your interest in attending. Free parking is available in the Library District Parking Garage at 10th and Baltimore.

The 2007-08 Writers at Work Series has featured authors intimately connected to New York City. (angelakille)… (more)