The next installment in our ongoing “Reading the World Conversation Series” is on April 30 at the University of Rochester and features authors Jan Kjærstad and Mark Binelli.

Thursday, April 30, 2009
6:00pm – 7:30pm
University of Rochester, Interfaith Chapel
Rochester, NY

The “Jonas Wergland Trilogy” propelled author Jan Kjærstad to fame in his native Norway (and throughout Europe). This trilogy—which includes The Conqueror and The Discoverer, both published by Open Letter—presents three different viewpoints on the rise and fall of a TV producer named Jonas Wergeland (think Ken Burns meets Terry Gross) and three different explanations for his wife’s mysterious death. Made up of dozens of short stories about Jonas’s life, The Conqueror and The Discoverer are absolute masterpieces of storytelling that weave together fragments of Jonas’s life into a mystery that—rather than answering “who did it?“—addresses the more salient question of “how did he become the person who did it?”

Jan Kjærstad will be joined on stage by the incredibly talented Mark Binelli, who is the author of Sacco & Vanzetti Must Die! (a novel that ingeniously re-imagines two infamous anarchists as slapstick comedians). He is also a contributing editor to Rolling Stone, writing on topics ranging from the glacial melting on Greenland to “Kid Cannabis” to, most recently, the fall of Detroit.

The two authors will read briefly from their books and discuss their experiences writing for different countries, languages, and audiences.

This event is free and open to the public, and a reception will follow.