Writers At Work: Joyce Carol Oates

Author: Joyce Carol Oates is one of America's most versatile, serious writers, the author of a number of distinguished books in several genres, all published within the past twenty-five years. In addition to numerous novels and short story collections, she has published several volumes of poetry, several books of plays, five books of literary criticism, and the book-length essay On Boxing. John Gardner has called her "one of the greatest writers of our time."
Her writing has earned her much praise and many awards, including the 2005 Prix Femina, France’s literary prize for the best novel published in their country, 2004 Fairfax Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Literary Arts, PEN/Malamud Award for Excellence in short fiction, the Rosenthal Award from the American Academy - Institute of Arts and Letters, a Guggenheim Fellowship, the O'Henry Prize for Continued Achievement in the Short Story, the National Book Award for her novel Them, and in 1978, membership in the American Academy-Institute. What I Lived For was nominated for the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award. In 1999 she was nominated for the Nobel Prize for the third time.
Often Oates's "vision" is that of a highly complex America populated with presumably ordinary families who experience common yet intense emotions and relationships and who frequently encounter violence. Her ambition is to create a fictional world that mirrors the ambiguity and felt experience of the real world of her time.

What: Joyce Carol Oates will discuss her career, her works, and answer audience questions. This event is part of the Writers At Work speaker series organized by Kansas City novelist Whitney Terrell and sponsored by The Kansas City Public Library, the English Department at the University Of Missouri - Kansas City and the Writers at Work Round Table.

Where: Kansas City Public Library, Central Branch, Kirk Hall, 14 W. 10th Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64105.

 When: Monday, November 8, 2010, 6:30 PM. NOTE: NEW DATE

Admission: Complimentary and open to the public. Reservations requested, please call the Kansas City Public Library at (816) 701-3407.

A limited number of preautographed copies of Oates's books will be available for purchase at this event from Rainy Day Books.