Friday, August 14, 2009

Author Don Delillo coming to Jackson Sept. 29

My first Don Delillo novel was "Running Dog." I picked up a hardback copy for a dollar at the annual Denver Public Library summer sale. It was subversive and wacky. Characters are pursuing a copy of Adolf Hitler's final movie, filmed in his underground bunker just before his suicide. A reporter from Running Dog, a sixties-style underground newspaper, is in a race to find the film.

I won't give away the ending. It's suitably Delillo. I went on to read almost all of his 14 books, including the National Book Award winner, "White Noise." "Libra" outlined an alternate history for the JFK assassination. For research, Delillo's read the entire Warren Commission Report, delivered to his house in multiple cardboard boxes. Earlier this year I read "Falling Man" which centers around the 9/11 World Trade Center attack.

Dark homor. Great stories. Memorable characters. What else do you need in a novel?

Delillo will be making a rare public appearance in Wyoming. Here are details from the Teton County Public Library in Jackson:

The University of Wyoming, Teton County Library Foundation and Jackson Hole Writers Conference present a rare evening with Don DeLillo, the author of 14 critically-acclaimed novels, on Tuesday, Sept. 29, 7:30-8:30 p.m. DeLillo is the winner of the 1985 National Book Award for "White Noise," and his novel "Underworld" was runner-up on the New York Times survey of best American fiction of the past 25 years. This is a free event at the Center for the Arts, Center Theatre. Contact: Adult Humanities Coordinator, Oona Doherty, 733-2164 ext. 135 or odoherty@tclib.org.


I'd travel 430 miles to see Don Delillo. And I may.

No comments: