Book lovers are going to want to clear their calendars for Thursday nights for the next several weeks: The Writers Studio is returning to KERA.
The series features blockbuster authors such as Mary Gordon, Louise Erdrich and Kimberla Lawson Roby -- all recorded during live appearances in Dallas in recent years. Up next: Junot Diaz. (I've resurrected an old blog post about that event and appended it at the end, to give you a hint of the fun that's headed your way.)
A full schedule is posted at Art&Seek.
The Writers Studio is a Writer's Garret project, and that worthy organization is hosting a reading tonight featuring Bonnie Friedman and Tom McClellan at their new location -- 10809 Garland Road (Next door to Lucky Dog Books). On Sunday, they'll have a celebration of Charles Dickens, facilitated by Darron Hamilton. Read more about it at the Writer's Garret site.
Junot Diaz is after the jump:
]]>
From Sun, Sep 14, 2008: "Junot Diaz does tells Dallas audience why he likes to do something unspeakable with them"
A Pulitzer Prize changes things.
Whereas Junot Diaz could keep it casual in his visit [to a Dallas Borders] last year, on Sunday he and his Hugo Boss suit were up on a stage in front of about 220 people at the Dallas Museum of Art, flanked by the hosts of the Writers Studio, fielding earnest questions about structure and Dominican history.
Whereas before, he'd been breezy and fun, the first half of this afternoon's program was cerebral, with Mr. Diaz explaining things such as, with his extensive use of footnotes, "I wanted the undertext to argue with the overtext."
Nothing wrong with that. It was just a different type of affair.
In fact, the first f-bomb wasn't dropped until about halfway through.
Ah, but you can't keep a good man down. And with an enthusiastic audience -- one that was refreshingly youthful and diverse for a Dallas author appearance -- taking over the questioning, Mr. Diaz was able to edge away from the English lecture material and, it appeared, make himself at home.
How at home? Well, by my count, he lobbed 14 f-bombs in the final 40 minutes, which may very well lead to a few more being lobbed by the poor public radio editor who has to make the show FCC-ready for broadcast.
The live audience, of course, loved it. In fact, one of his unprintable comments came up again and again in the questioning. To wit:
"Part of being a writer is you gotta [expletive] with your audience. Otherwise they get comfortable."
He also explained that funky title on his Pulitzer-winning novel: "I always thought the title of a book should come as a good warning as to what comes next. The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is like a compression of three different narratives that combine in a bizarre way in this book. You have the Hemingway story, 'The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber'; you have a reference to Oscar Wilde -- which is what Oscar Wao is, just a mishearing of Oscar Wilde in a really bad Chilango accent, or in this case a Dominican accent; and the final reference is to Doctor Who, which is the reason that Oscar Wilde gets misheard."
Speaking of Doctor Who, he was later asked to name his favorite "geek texts."
"I thought I named them all in this book," he said, before listing Stephen King's The Stand, the works of Octavia Butler, and Samuel R. Delaney's Dhalgren, which he called "The most important book I ever read."
He paid tribute to his readers, saying that when the book came out, "I felt like the readers of this book understood it at a level that the critics didn't understand it. I felt like this was book for readers more than anyone. So I always found myself hating the criticism. I just felt like the critics had nothing much to say except to comment on the language. It's like, 'Oh, the language is so weird, and so interesting!' Which is always like the literary equivalent of, 'Oh, Barack Obama, you're so articulate!' "
The crowd, as I said, loved it. And most, it appeared, lined up for autographs later. He stood for the signing, and chatted happily.
Mr. Diaz charms because, like his book, he speaks with street toughness and vulnerability. He's intellectual without being arrogant. He's a brilliant guy who isn't afraid to admit that being brilliant takes a hell of a lot of work. And if he ever comes back to town, try to catch him. You'll never get the full experience on the radio. Or in a family paper for that matter.
]]>
I found great picks for all ages this week. For the younger ones, check out Disney's Aladdin Jr. at Artisan Center Theater and Charlotte's Web at Casa Manana. Science fans can learn about exploring the underwater world at the Museum of Nature & Science. And teens can check out their fellow teens in a splashy production of Phantom of the Opera at J.J. Pearce High School and in a serious look at bullying in The Secret Life of Girls at Dallas Children's Theater.
