Nine years have passed since Ana Koehl had sex with her pot-addicted anesthesiologist husband, seven since she began an affair with a gonzo journalist. She's gratified by her work as a book doula, but burdened by her belief that she need always be on call. Her elderly mother's birthday greeting is an inflation-adjusted calculation of the cost of raising Ana in a mice-infested house, her brother has hijacked the will of their recently deceased starchitect father, her adult child is changing rapidly before her eyes, and her best friend advocates for "the truth in lies." Gazing out at the dark moat of Central Park from behind her desk, Ana sees that she can no longer postpone making peace with her past or confronting her present.
Narrated by Ana and the key figures in her life--her husband, her brother, her lover's wife, to name a few-- Ana Turns spirals through issues from capital punishment to the dynamiting of the Bamiyan Buddhas, culminating in a watershed dinner party, with Ana's family members' true colors on full display. By day's end, the bounds of her own collaboration and forgiveness illuminated, Ana turns towards a vision of what she wants next in this blink of a life.
Lisa Gornick has been hailed by NPR as "one of the most perceptive, compassionate writers of fiction in America . . . immensely talented and brave." She is the author of four previous novels, most recently The Peacock Feast and Louisa Meets Bear, both published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux. Her essays have appeared widely, including in the New York Times, the Paris Review, Real Simple, and the Wall Street Journal. A graduate of the Yale clinical psychology program and the psychoanalytic training program at Columbia, where she is on the faculty, she was for many years a practicing psychotherapist and psychoanalyst. She lives in New York City with her family. You can learn about Lisa and her work at lisagornickauthor.com.
Susan Coll is the author of six novels, including Bookish People and The Stager---a New York Times and Chicago Tribune Editor’s Choice. Her third novel, Acceptance, was made into a television movie starring the hilarious Joan Cusack. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times Book Review and the Washington Post. She was the Director of Events and Programs at Politics and Prose for five years, and is now part of the events team. She is currently the president of the PEN/Faulkner Foundation.
This event is free with first come, first served seating.
