Steve Stern to speak for Writing Program Reading Series Nov. 13 and 20

Acclaimed author Steve Stern, the Visiting Fannie Hurst Professor of Creative Literature in Washington University’s Writing Program in Arts & Sciences, will read from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13. In addition, Stern will host a talk on the craft of fiction at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 20.

Both events — part of The Writing Program’s fall Reading Series — are free and open to the public and take place in Hurst Lounge, Room 201, Duncker Hall, on the university’s Danforth Campus. A reception and book signing will immediately follow.

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 or email David Schuman at dschuman@wustl.edu.

Over the last quarter-century Stern has earned critical accolades for creating colorful characters that, according to The New York Times, mine “the rich terrain of Eastern European Jewry.” His first volume, the story collection Isaac and the Undertaker’s Daughter (1983) was set in The Pinch, the old Jewish ghetto of Memphis, TN, where Stern once directed the Center for Southern Folklore’s Ethnic Heritage Program. Subsequent books would include Lazar Malkin Enters Heaven (1986), which won the Edward Lewis Wallant Award for Jewish American fiction, and The Wedding Jester (1999), which won the National Jewish Book Award.

Stern’s most recent novel is The Angel of Forgetfulness (2005), which interweaves three narratives all centering on a unfinished manuscript about a fallen angel and his half-mortal son, both of whom reside on New York’s Lower East Side at turn of the 20th century. The Washington Post praised the book as “touching, funny and dizzying” while The Los Angeles Times noted that, “Stern has tapped a direct bloodline, creating an important work of deep themes, soaring language and serious implications that is also unceasingly entertaining.”

Other books include The Moon & Ruben Shein (1984), Harry Kaplan’s Adventures Under Ground (1991), A Plague of Dreamers (1994) and The North of God (2008). Stern is also the author of two children’s books, Mickey and the Golem (1986) and Hershel and the Beast (1987). His stories have appeared in numerous anthologies, such as The O.Henry Prize, The Pushcart and The Norton Anthology of Jewish American Fiction.

Stern’s many honors include grants from the Fulbright and Guggenheim foundations. He is currently a writer-in-residence at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, NY.