There are nice tributes to John Updike making their way out into cyberspace: I particularly enjoyed this Slate roundtable, featuring Anne Fadiman talking about her days of editing Updike's poetry at The American Scholar. Strange to realize that only a couple months ago I was working on illustrating his short story, "Nessus at Noon," arguing for layout changes, and a couple of weeks later typing out the address label for his house in Beverly Farms. According to the L.A. Times, it was his last work published during his lifetime.
Got plans for tomorrow night? If not, I highly recommend this:
PHILIP LOPATE COMES TO THE WRITER'S CENTER
The Writer’s Center will celebrate its 32nd birthday with a reading by acclaimed memoirist, essayist, and film critic Phillip Lopate. Lopate, author or editor of more than a dozen books, including The Art of the Personal Essay, will read from his recent collection of novellas, Two Marriages, his first work of fiction since his 1987 novel The Rug Merchant. About Lopate, critic Sven Birkerts writes: “His fearlessness is tonic, his candor is straight gin.”
When: Saturday, January 31 (7:30 P.M.)
Where: The Writer’s Center
4508 Walsh Street, Bethesda, MD 20815
The cost of this event is $25;
a reception and book signing will follow the event.
Phillip Lopate was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1943, and received a bachelor's degree at Columbia University in 1964, and a doctorate at Union Graduate School in 1979. He holds the John Cranford Adams Chair at Hofstra University, and teaches in the MFA graduate programs at Columbia, the New School, and Bennington. He can be found online at www.philliplopate.com
...and seriously, I love that Sven Birkerts quote. This will be fun. I'll see you there.
i would be happy if you'd come read by Updike tribute. he's one of the most influential and important writers of my life. top ten. i have an original edition Rabbit Redux which is cool even though it's not one of the best of the books.
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