Speaking of the “Big Read”—see below—here are some additional details about the reading I’ll be doing in conjunction with the DC celebration:
Flirting with the Masters: Fiction Writers on F. Scott Fitzgerald
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
7 p.m.
On Tuesday, May 6, the Arts Club of Washington will host acclaimed fiction writers LESLIE PIETRZYK and MATTHEW KLAM as they talk about the personal impact of reading F. Scott Fitzgerald, then share selections from their own work. This event is affiliated with the 2008 NEA “Big Read.” Free and open to the public, reception to follow.
LESLIE PIETRZYK is the author of the novels Pears on a Willow Tree and A Year and a Day, which was selected for the Book-of-the-Month Club and was featured in the Borders Bookstores “Original Voices” series. Her work has been nominated for several Pushcart Prizes and has received awards from Shenandoah, Columbia, Descant, and other journals. She has received fellowships from the Bread Loaf and Sewanee Writers’ Conferences.
MATTHEW KLAM is the author of Sam the Cat, a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book of the Year and a New York Times Notable Book. He is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, an O'Henry Award, a Whiting Writer's Award, and a PEN/Robert Bingham Award, and has received grants from the NEA and the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown. He is a contributing writer to GQ Magazine, and has taught creative writing in many places including University of Michigan and American University, and is a Visiting Professor at Southampton College in New York.
Big Read - D.C. is a literacy event presented by the Humanities Council of Washington, DC and the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities. DC is reading The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald from April 24 - May 24, 2008, as part of The Big Read, an initiative of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest. For a calendar specific to DC-area events, visit www.dcbigread.blogspot.com.
The Arts Club of Washington is at 2017 I Street NW, near Foggy Bottom/GWU and Farragut West metro. Headquartered in the James Monroe House, a National Historic Landmark, the Club was founded in 1916 and is the oldest non-profit arts organization in the city. The Club mission is to generate public appreciation for and participation in the arts in the Nation’s capital, through ongoing educational programs that include literary events, art exhibitions, and musical and theatrical performances.
For more information on the Arts Club, visit www.artsclubofwashington.org.