Visiting Writers Announced

Michael Ondaatje
Thursday, November 2

Novelist and playwright lê thi diem thúy was born in Phan Thiet, southern Vietnam, and escaped with her father by boat in 1978, settling in California. She is the author of the widely acclaimed novel The Gangster We are all Looking For, which depicts the life of a Vietnamese family living in America. The New York Times calls the novel “heartbreaking and exhilarating,” while the New York Times Book Review says it is “a brilliant evocation of how metaphor can make time and memory as real as the newspaper you are holding in your hand.” lê thi diem thúy’s work has appeared in such publications as Harper’s and Best American Essays and has been performed at the Whitney Museum of American Art, the International Women Playwright’s Festival in Galway, and the Vineyard Theater. The recipient of many accolades, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, she now resides in Massachusetts.

Satirist and cultural critic Joe Queenan has been called “brilliantly sick” and “one of the funniest people in America.” His nine books include the best-selling Balsamic Dreams: A Short but Self-Important History of the Baby Boomer Generation and Red Lobster, White Trash, and the Blue Lagoon: Joe Queenan’s America. A columnist for Men’s Health, Smart Money, Hollywood Life, Chief Executive, and The Guardian, Queenan’s work frequently appears in the New York Times. Formerly an editor at Forbes and Spy, television critic at People, and a columnist at GQ, his stories have appeared in scores of national publications, including the New Republic, Time, Newsweek, the Wall Street Journal, Rolling Stone, and Esquire.  He has appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman, The Daily Show, Today, Good Morning, America, Charlie Rose, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, Politically Incorrect, and Inside the NFL. He lives in Tarrytown, New York.  

Although literary phenomenon Michael Ondaatje is best known as a novelist, his work encompasses memoir, poetry, and film, revealing a passion for defying conventional form. He is the author of a dozen books, including the novels In the Skin of a Lion, Coming Through Slaughter, and The English Patient, which was awarded the Booker Prize and made into an Academy Award-winning film. His most recent novel, Anil’s Ghost, received top literary awards in Canada and France. Ondaatje has also written a memoir, Running in the Family, and numerous collections of poetry, including There’s a Trick with a Knife that I’m Learning to Do, which won the Governor-General’s Award, and Handwriting, his most recent. Born in the former Ceylon of Dutch/Indian ancestry, Ondaatje was raised in London and is now a Canadian citizen. He resides in Toronto, where he writes and is editor of the literary journal Brick.