Join WashU alumni, parents, and friends for a reading from Stefan Merrill Block, AB ‘04, celebrated literary talent and author of The Story of Forgetting, for a reading from his new novel Oliver Loving. Stefan will be reading as a part of the Behind the Book’s Reading Series. He will be joined by other authors, Sam Graham-Felsen and Hermione Hoby, at the KGB Bar from 7:00 – 9:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 8. A copy of Oliver Loving will be provided for all registrants.
Oliver Loving is a brilliant, propulsive book about family, the traumas and secrets that test our deepest bonds, and the stories that hold us together. This is the third book from the Plano, TX native and Washington University alumnus. His first book, The Story of Forgetting, was an international bestseller and the winner of Best First Fiction at the Rome International Festival of Literature, The Ovid Prize from the Romanian Writer's Union, the 2008 Merck Serono Literature Prize and the 2009 Fiction Award from The Writers’ League of Texas. The Story of Forgetting was also a finalist for the debut fiction awards from IndieBound, Salon du Livre and The Center for Fiction. Following the publication of his second novel, The Storm at the Door, Stefan was awarded The University of Texas Dobie-Paisano Fellowship, as well as residencies at The Santa Maddalena Foundation and Castello Malaspina di Fosdinovo in Italy. Stefan's novels have been translated into ten languages, and his stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The New Yorker Page-Turner, The Guardian, NPR’s Radiolab, GRANTA, The Los Angeles Times, and many other publications.
Behind the Book's is a literacy program whose mission is to inspire New York City public school students to love reading by bringing accomplished authors and their books into classrooms and creating rich, innovative literacy programs.