Nicholson Baker

Harvard Book Store is delighted to welcome NICHOLSON BAKER, acclaimed writer of both fiction and non-fiction, to discuss his new novel The Anthologist. The Anthologist is narrated by Paul Chowder—a once-in-a-while-published kind of poet who is writing the introduction to a new anthology of poetry. ... (meer)He's having a hard time getting started because his career is floundering, his girlfriend Roz has recently left him, and he is thinking about the great poets throughout history who have suffered far worse and deserve to feel sorry for themselves. He has also promised to reveal many wonderful secrets and tips and tricks about poetry, and it looks like the introduction will be a little longer than he'd thought. What unfolds is a wholly entertaining and beguiling love story about poetry: from Tennyson, Swinburne, and Yeats to the moderns (Roethke, Bogan, Merwin) to the staff of The New Yorker, what Paul reveals is astonishing and makes one realize how incredibly important poetry is to our lives.

Nicholson Baker was born in 1957 and attended the Eastman School of Music and Haverford College. He is the author of seven novels, including Vox and The Mezzanine, and three previous works of nonfiction, including Double Fold, which won a National Book Critics Circle Award in 2001. He lives in Maine ... (meer)with his family.

Free. No reservations. Please email Arcadia Coffee to show interest or to order a signed copy of the book.

"In Human Smoke, Nicholson Baker, author of The Size of Thoughts and Double Fold, weaves together a chronicle of the beginnings of World War II, and presents an indictment of the treasured myths that have romanticized much of the 1930s and 40s. Through a running narrative of press clippings, Baker details ... (meer)mankind's unstoppable descent into the madness of war from 1914 until 1941 and pierces the lies, hopes, fears, and legends we so easily imbibe on the road to war. Human Smoke offers a new perspective on the political, social, religious, and economic events in the years preceding World War II." Cost: $15 general admission and $10 library donors, seniors and students with valid identification (Event will be held in the South Court Auditorium)