44. Literary Giants in Short Form

Three luminaries of contemporary literature grace our stage with their new short story collections that brilliantly reflect the tensions and foibles of our modern lives. André Alexis playfully employs a multitude of literary genres to capture not only the worlds we live in, but the ones we imagine. With acerbic wit, Curtis Sittenfeld writes characters that feel like old friends in Show Don’t Tell. And Jonathan Lethem’s A Different Kind of Tension collects new work along with some of the greatest gems from across his 35-year career, moving effortlessly between realism and the surreal to offer up utterly unpredictable tales. This is sure to be a scintillating conversation among three acclaimed authors at the height of their powers. Moderated by Shaena Lambert.

Curtis Sittenfeld’s attendance presented thanks to the generous support of an anonymous patron.

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Event Participants:

André Alexis

ANDRÉ ALEXIS is a critically-acclaimed and award-winning author. His book, Fifteen Dogs, won the Giller Prize, the Rogers Writers’ Trust Fiction Prize, and Canada Reads. It was recently adapted for stage by Mirvish Productions (Toronto) and National Arts Centre (Ottawa). His short fiction work has appeared in The New Yorker. He lives in Toronto.

Shaena Lambert

SHAENA LAMBERT’s most recent novel, Petra, won the 2021 BC and Yukon’s Ethel Wilson Award. Her book of stories, Oh My Darling, was a Globe and Mail Best Book and a finalist for the Frank O’Connor Award for the short story. Her other books include Radiance—nominated for the Atwood-Gibson Writers’ Trust Prize—and The Falling Woman. She’s at work on a new novel.

Jonathan Lethem

JONATHAN LETHEM is the bestselling author of thirteen novels, including Motherless Brooklyn, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. His short fiction has garnered a Pushcart Prize, a World Fantasy Award, and inclusion in The Best American Short Stories. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship, he lives in Los Angeles and Maine.

Curtis Sittenfeld

CURTIS SITTENFELD is the New York Times bestselling author of six novels including Rodham, Eligible, Prep, American Wife, and Sisterland, as well as the collection You Think It, I’ll Say It. Her nonfiction has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Time, and Vanity Fair, and on public radio’s This American Life.