Meet the author: Richard Powers
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Meet the author
The meetings with writers at Passa Porta, prepared with passion, courage and thoroughness, are more than simply the presentation of literary works. We seek to achieve a genuine connection between writer and reader, and among readers themselves.
Go to overviewLeading American author Richard Powers has a strong connection to Brussels. He was once writer-in-residence at Passa Porta and presented his ambitious ‘eco-novel’ The Overstory here (Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 2019). In Brussels, he also met composer Kris Defoort, who with librettist Peter Van Kraaij created an opera version of the novel The Time of Our Singing. Now that we can also enjoy Powers’ gripping new novel Bewilderment, it is high time for another evening with this brilliant mind. Interviewer: Annelies Beck.
About the author
Richard Powers (b. 1957 in Illinois) is without doubt one of the most important American authors in recent decades. In his work he pays close attention to the relation between man, nature, science and technology. Among his most important works are The Gold Bug Variations, The Time of Our Singing and The Echo Maker (National Book Award 2006). His 2014 novel Orfeo was longlisted for both the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Award. The Sunday Times has praised Powers as ‘intellectually the most challenging English-language novelist of our time’. His international bestseller The Overstory (2018) was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
So says the grande dame of Canadian literature Margaret Atwood. And who are we to contradict her.
About the book
Richard Powers’ latest novel Bewilderment is the story of a father’s uncompromising love for his son. It is the author’s most intimate and moving work to date.
Astrobiologist Theo Byrne has found a promising way to search the cosmos for life. Since the death of his wife, he has also taken it upon himself to raise his highly gifted nine-year-old son. Robin is an engaging, gentle boy who likes to spend hours drawing detailed pictures of endangered animals and gets upset by the slightest bit of bad news about the climate. He wants to complete the mission of his late mother: to save nature from extinction. Robin is also on the verge of being expelled from school because he punched a classmate in the face. Theo will ultimately seek refuge in an experimental neurofeedback therapy for him. And in the meantime, he takes the boy to other planets, while supporting Robin’s attempts to save the earth against his better judgement.
The Time of Our Singing
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Org. Passa Porta, De Munt/La Monnaie, Atlas Contact, VBKU
picture richard powers © dean d. dixon
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