CCW Dinner & Discussion: Ninety-Nine Stories of God by Joy Williams
Date and time
Location
Aquinas Hall Patio
The Catholic University of America 620 Michigan Ave. NE Washington, DC 20064Description
***Parking Update: Free parking available in Aquinas Hall parking lot 5-8pm. (Additional parking on Harewood Road.)
Join the Contemporary Catholic Writers Group for a potluck-style picnic dinner and discussion of
NINETY-NINE STORIES OF GOD by JOY WILLIAMS
A New York Times Notable Book and a Best Book of the Year at Esquire, Seattle Times, Minnesota Star Tribune, Huffington Post, and Publishers Weekly.
From “quite possibly America’s best living writer of short stories” (NPR), Ninety-Nine Stories of God finds Joy Williams reeling between the sublime and the surreal, knocking down the barriers between the workaday and the divine.
Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist Joy Williams has a one-of-a-kind gift for capturing both the absurdity and the darkness of everyday life. In Ninety-Nine Stories of God, she takes on one of mankind’s most confounding preoccupations: the Supreme Being.
This series of short, fictional vignettes explores our day-to-day interactions with an ever-elusive and arbitrary God. It’s the Book of Common Prayer as seen through a looking glass―a powerfully vivid collection of seemingly random life moments. The figures that haunt these stories range from Kafka (talking to a fish) to the Aztecs, Tolstoy to Abraham and Sarah, O. J. Simpson to a pack of wolves. Most of Williams’s characters, however, are like the rest of us: anonymous strivers and bumblers who brush up against God in the least expected places or go searching for Him when He’s standing right there. The Lord shows up at a hot-dog-eating contest, a demolition derby, a formal gala, and a drugstore, where he’s in line to get a shingles vaccination. At turns comic and yearning, lyric and aphoristic, Ninety-Nine Stories of God serves as a pure distillation of one of our great artists.
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FAQs
Q: What is the Contemporary Catholic Writers Group?
A: CCW is a reading series started by Catholic University English graduate students in 2015. Learn more about us on our English department webpage and listen to author talks and interviews (coming soon) here. All CCW events are free and open to everyone.
Q: What should I bring for dinner?
A: If you're able to bring a beverage, side dish, or snack to share, please sign up at this link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B084CADA62FAAFC1-potluck. (Trouble with the link? Email the organizer, Jessica Schnepp, at 71schnepp@cua.edu.)
Q: Why do I need to register? Can I just show up?
A: RSVPs aren't required but they're ridiculously helpful: an accurate head count ahead of time helps us ensure there'll be enough food and space for everyone.
Q: What if I haven't finished the book before the meeting?
A: Join us anyway! But be prepared for spoilers.
Q: Where exactly is the event location and where can I park?
A: Aquinas Hall is on the north end of campus (D8 on campus map): https://www.catholic.edu/res/docs/cuamap.pdf. Free street parking is available on Harewood Road. On entering Aquinas Hall, take the stairs to the second floor outdoor patio. (Indoor seating is available in case of inclement weather.)
Q: Will the author be present at this event?
A: No, but if you bring him or her along as your +1, we owe you a drink.
Organized by
Inspired by Dana Gioia’s essay “The Catholic Writer Today” (First Things, 2013) and the myriad responses it has evoked since its publication, the CUA Contemporary Catholic Writers Group was founded in 2015 to raise awareness and appreciation of literary works by living Catholic writers and to engage the CUA community in the current broader conversation regarding the future of the Catholic literary imagination. While the group gives special attention to American Catholic writers, it also includes occasional selections of international writers and works in translation. A few times each year, the group also complements this primary focus on contemporary Catholic literature with discussions of past Catholic writers and of current (non-Catholic) writers who deal with questions of faith.
An English graduate student initiative, this reading and discussion group is sponsored by CUA’s English department and is open to CUA graduate students and faculty from all departments, as well as independent scholars---Catholic and non-Catholic alike---who are interested in the relationship between literature and faith. Meetings are held on a monthly basis during the academic year. Guest lectures, poetry readings, and other literary events are held throughout the year and are free and open to the public.
For more information about Contemporary Catholic Writers, please contact Jessica Schnepp (71schnepp@cua.edu) and visit the “CUA Contemporary Catholic Writers” Facebook page to receive updates and event invitations. Details for monthly events are also made available on The Nest (nest.cua.edu).
Website: http://english.cua.edu/student-life/Contemporary-Catholic-Writers-Reading-and-Discussion-Group.cfm