Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 7pm, Music Building, $20

M a r y   G a i t s k i l l  
with Leonard Lopate

Mary Gaitskill is the author of the collections of stories Bad Behavior, Because They Wanted To, and Don’t Cry, as well as the novels Two Girls, Fat and Thin and Veronica. The New York Times Book Review has said: “Gaitskill is enormously gifted…[Her work] is a masterly examination of the relationship between surface and self, culture and fashion, time and memory.” The Cleveland Plain Dealer has said: “[Gaitskill’s] understanding of women’s shadowy feelings is so deadly I sometimes put the book down, stunned…. Her ferocious honesty makes almost any other book seem timid.” The San Francisco Chronicle has said: “Gaitskill writes from the gut…[Her] characters bleed, sweat, cry, and they experience sadness, anger and love as much as a physical sensation as an emotion.” Michiko Kakutani, writing in The New York Times, has said: “Gaitskill writes with such authority, such radar-perfect detail, that she is able to make even the most extreme situations seem real. She takes us on a meticulously observed documentary tour of [her characters’] inner and outer lives…” Slate has said: “[Gaitskill’s work] creates an atmosphere, provokes a response, and suffuses us with an emotion that we can easily, all too easily, summon up. It’s art that you can continue to see even with your eyes closed.” The Sunday Oregonian has described the work of Ms. Gaitskill as “twisted, beautiful, grotesque, graceful, and exceedingly well executed. People write their whole lives in the hope of coming up with just one sentence that rises to the level of [Gaitskill’s work].”

In addition to reading from her work, Ms. Gaitskill will be interviewed by Leonard Lopate.

photo of Mary Gaitskill: Joe Gaffney