24PearlStreet: Books That Matter
The Fine Arts Work Center’s 24PearlStreet online writing program is excited to announce Books That Matter, a new series of online events that will appeal to anyone who loves books. Each event features a beloved member of the FAWC faculty speaking about a book that has been transformative in their lives, followed by an audience Q&A. We hope you will join us this spring for a dynamic series of talks that will make you fall in love with books all over again.
Reading the book prior to each event isn’t necessary, but it is recommended.
The cost of these events is variable*:
- The standard rate for an individual event is $75.
- The student and teacher rate for an individual event is $40.
- The standard rate for purchasing access to all four events is $250.
- The student and teacher rate for purchasing access to all four events is $125.
*NOTE: The student and teacher rate is for anyone who is over 18 and is a teacher working at, or a student currently enrolled in, a K-12 school, community college, 4-year college, or graduate program.
Tickets for this event series are now available!
Books That Matter Presentations
The Woman in the Dunes – a Metaphor that Transforms as it Moves Through Time
Books That Matter: Nick Flynn on
The Woman in the Dunes by Kōbō Abe
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Time: 6-7:30 PM (Eastern)
The Woman in the Dunes sets up an impossible (or at least unlikely) conceit, then commits to it fully. Part speculative, part horror, part a study in psychological tension, part love story, Abe creates a world unlike any we know, that somehow lines up (metaphorically) with the world as it is.
Chronicle of a Death Foretold — Prefiguration, Augury, Dream: the Novel as Spiral
Books That Matter: Victoria Redel on
Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel García Márquez
Tuesday, May 21, 2024
Time: 6 – 7:30 PM (Eastern)
Chronicle of a Death Foretold is a unique novella that defies conventional narratives. The book explores various themes, including time, community, social class, destiny, dreams, and truth. Márquez challenges the reader by creating an anti-whodunnit structure and exploring the concept of complicity.
The Perpetual Present of Etel Adnan
Books That Matter: Eileen Myles on
The Arab Apocalypse by Etel Adnan
Tuesday, June 4, 2024
Time: 6 – 7:30 PM (Eastern)
Join Myles in reading the book-length poem, The Arab Apocalypse, written in 1980 by Etel Adnan, artist, novelist, and one of the most significant post-modern poets in contemporary Arab culture. Etel Adnan was born in Beirut, translated The Arab Apocalypse herself from French and this fiery, mournful and mutating book “has so surrendered to ‘being there,’ it can rivet the sensibility to the Middle Eastern condition at any point in the text”, with little 3-D pictograms occurring throughout.
On Maurice, E. M. Forster’s
Posthumous Gay Novel
Books That Matter: Alexander Chee on
Maurice by E. M. Forster
Wednesday, June 18, 2024
Time: 6 – 7:30 PM (Eastern)
In preparing for his essay about Forster and Maurice in The New Republic a few years ago, Alexander Chee dove deep into the novel’s history but has since learned even more he’d like to share in this talk. “On Maurice, E.M. Forster’s Posthumous Gay Novel” is a talk and a discussion about this novel and its legacy.
You can attend the entire Books That Matter series at a discounted rate.
Tickets for this event series are now available!
