In Conversation With Ann Patchett
Join us for a gathering with Ann Patchett, bestselling author and owner of Parnassus Books! Celebrating her newest release, the annotated version of Bel Canto, this evening will include a moderated conversation, Q+A, and book signing.
When:
Sunday, November 17th - 7:00 PM
Monday, November 18th - 11:00 AM
Tickets:
$50 (Admission Only)
80% of ticket sales ($40 per ticket) will go to the Book Industry Charitable Foundation. To learn more about BINC, visit: https://bincfoundation.org/
When purchasing your ticket, use the add-on feature to order any of Ann's novels, including the hand annotated version of Bel Canto. Books will also be available for purchase at the event. Purchase your copy of the hand annotated version of Bel Canto (online or at the event) to receive a personalized signature from Ann and photo.
About Bel Canto:
First published in 2001, Bel Canto is possibly Ann Patchett’s most beloved novel. Set in an unnamed South American country, at the home of the vice president, it is the story of a lavish birthday party honoring Mr. Hosokawa, a powerful Japanese businessman. Roxanne Coss, opera’s most revered soprano, has enthralled the international guests with a mesmerizing performance. The evening is perfect—until a band of gun-wielding terrorists takes the entire party hostage. But in Patchett’s skilled hands, what begins as a panicked, life-threatening scenario slowly evolves into something quite different, a moment of great beauty, as terrorists and hostages forge unexpected bonds and people from different continents become compatriots. Friendship, compassion, and the chance for great love lead the characters to forget the real danger that has been set in motion—and cannot be stopped.
Now, more than two decades after this bold and artistically daring novel’s debut, Patchett revisits her early work. In this special annotated edition, the acclaimed prize-winning author opens the story to readers, providing enlightening commentary on her original version, including reflections on her narrative choices and style. A mature writer looking back at her younger self, Patchett takes us deep into her creative process and considers her career and growth as an artist, from that novel to her most recent, Tom Lake.
About Ann Patchett:
ANN PATCHETT is the author of nine novels, The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, The Magician’s Assistant, Bel Canto, Run, State of Wonder, Commonwealth, The Dutch House, and Tom Lake. She was the editor of Best American Short Stories, 2006, and has written four books of nonfiction–Truth & Beauty, about her friendship with the writer Lucy Grealy, What Now? an expansion of her graduation address at Sarah Lawrence College, This is the Story of a Happy Marriage, a collection of essays examining the theme of commitment, and These Precious Days, essays on home, family, friendship, and writing. In 2019, she published her first children’s book, Lambslide, illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser, followed by Escape Goat in 2020.
A graduate of Sarah Lawrence College and the Iowa Writer’s Workshop, Patchett has been the recipient of numerous awards and fellowships, including a National Humanities Medal, England’s Women’s Prize, the PEN/Faulkner Award, the Harold D. Vursell Memorial Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Book Sense Book of the Year, a Guggenheim Fellowship, The Chicago Tribune’s Heartland Prize, The Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, the American Bookseller’s Association’s Most Engaging Author Award, and the Women’s National Book Association’s Award. Her novel, The Dutch House, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her books have been both New York Times Notable Books and New York Times bestsellers. Her work has been translated into more than thirty languages.
In November, 2011, she opened Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee, with her business partner Karen Hayes. She has since become a spokesperson for independent booksellers, championing books and bookstores on NPR, The Colbert Report (including the series finale), Oprah's Super Soul Sunday, The Martha Stewart Show, and The CBS Early Show, among many others.