Novelist and essayist Joy Williams will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29, as part of the Spring Reading Series 2004, offered by The Writing Program and the Department of English in Arts & Sciences at Washington University.
The reading is free and open to the public and takes place in Hurst Lounge, Room 201, Duncker Hall, on Washington University’s Hilltop Campus. A book-signing and reception will immediately follow, and copies of Williams’ books available for purchase. Duncker Hall is located at the northwest corner of Brookings Quadrangle, near the intersection of Brookings and Hoyt drives. For more information, call (314) 935-7130.
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WHO: Novelist and essayist Joy Williams WHAT: Reading from her fiction WHEN: 8 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 29 WHERE: Hurst Lounge, Room 201 Duncker Hall, northwest corner of Brookings Quadrangle, near the intersection of Hoyt and Brookings Drive COST: free and open to the public INFORMATION: (314) 935-7130 |
Williams is the author of two collections of short stories and four novels, most recently, The Quick and the Dead. In 2002, Vintage published Ill Nature, a collection of essays on various subjects from electron-probed chimpanzees to the vanishing wetlands. Williams’ work has appeared in many magazines and journals including Esquire, Granta, and The Paris Review.
“Joy Williams is simply one of the best living fiction writers in America, and if–god knows why–too few readers have already recognized that, it’s the consensus opinions of an incredible range of her fellow authors.” comments writer Marshall Klimasewiski, assistant professor of English in Arts and Sciences.
“Who else has glowing blurbs on her books from writers as different from one another as Raymond Carver, Brett Easton Ellis, Ann Beattie, Don DeLillo and Truman Capote? In 1973, with her very first novel, George Plimpton was saying she ‘towers over most contemporary fiction;’ in 1988 Harold Brodkey said ‘To put it simply, Joy Williams is the most gifted writer of her generation;’ and in 2000, William Gass said, ‘Joy Williams is now the best at her business.’ She’s an amazing writer, one sentence to the next and one book to the next, and a consummate artist, entirely unique–and she has been for the last 30 years.”
Williams lives in Arizona and Key West. She will serve as Fannie Hurst Professor of Creative Literature for the entire Spring ’04 semester.