On Tuesday, September 9th^th at 6:30 PM, The Book Stall (811 Elm Street in Winnetka) welcomes acclaimed writer Peter Orner back to the store! Since his 2001 debut, Esther Stories, his wide-ranging body of work has been met with rapturous acclaim, and he’s been hailed “one of the most distinctive voices of his generation.” Now he delivers his first novel in fifteen years—a tender, comic, and moving family drama set within a real-life cold case, THE GOSSIP COLUMNIST’S DAUGHTER. Peter will be in conversation with author Chris Abani. 

This program is free and open to the public, but registration is requested. 

More About the Book: In November 1963, just days after JFK’s assassination, Karyn “Cookie” Kupcinet was found dead in her West Hollywood apartment. Cookie’s parents were Chicago royalty: legendary gossip columnist Irv “Kup” Kupcinet, and his wife Essee, and the closest friends of writer and professor Jed Rosenthal's grandparents. But they abruptly severed the friendship soon after Cookie’s death. Though their falling out may be “water under a bridge that no longer exists,” Jed goes on a quest to figure out what happened, immersing himself in family lore, crime scene reports, old newspapers, and forgotten photographs (many of which appear in the pages of this novel). As he attempts to solve the mystery of her death and to discover the cause of the rift between the Rosenthals and Kupcinets, the past comes into sharper focus. Jed is forced to confront the mystery at hand as well as deeper questions about the ties that bind us, and the obsessions that can unravel us.

Peter Orner is the author of seven acclaimed books including Maggie Brown & Others, Love and Shame and Love, Esther Stories, finalist for the PEN/Hemingway Award, and Am I Alone Here?, finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. His work has appeared in the New Yorker, the Paris Review, The Believer, Best American Stories, and been awarded four Pushcart Prizes. A Guggenheim fellow and recipient of the Rome Prize, Orner is chair of the English and Creative Writing Department at Dartmouth College. Born in Chicago, he lives with his family in Vermont, where he’s also a volunteer firefighter.

Chris Abani is a novelist, poet, essayist, screenwriter, and playwright. Born in Nigeria to an Igbo father and English mother, he grew up in Afikpo, Nigeria, received a BA in English from Imo State University, Nigeria, an MA in English, Gender and Culture from Birbeck College, University of London, and a PhD in Literature and Creative Writing from the University of Southern California. He has resided in the United States since 2001. He is the recipient of the PEN USA Freedom-to-Write Award, the Prince Claus Award, a Lannan Literary Fellowship, a California Book Award, a Hurston/Wright Legacy Award, a PEN Beyond the Margins Award, the PEN Hemingway Book Prize and a Guggenheim Award. His fiction includes The Secret History of Las Vegas (Penguin, 2014), Song for Night (Akashic, 2007), The Virgin of Flames (Penguin, 2007), Becoming Abigail (Akashic, 2006), Graceland (FSG, 2004), and Masters of the Board (Delta, 1985). Abani is Board of Trustees Professor of English at Northwestern University. 

The Book Stall is an independent bookstore and cultural institution on Chicago’s North Shore. We’re known for our great selection of books, cards, and gifts, as well as our long-running author event series. Learn more at www.thebookstall.com.