T189.
The Counterpoint West: Noir, Gritty, Haunted, and Left
Thursday, March 9, 2023
1:45 pm to 3:00 pm
The old literary tropes of the American West—the lone, white male nihilist-hero, corrupted cities, the hope of a new country—where are they now? Counterpoint Press, a longtime indie West Coast publisher, has become a leader in recasting Western lit with novels that are diverse, feminist, radical, time-bending, and darkly comic. Meet the new West as four Counterpoint authors discuss their groundbreaking projects and the region's evolving motifs, moderated by Counterpoint's editor in chief.
Participants
He is currently vice president, editor in chief of Counterpoint Press, one of the largest independent publishers in the country. He acquires and edits both fiction and nonfiction.
Natashia Deón is a two-time NAACP Image Award Nominee for Outstanding Literature, Hurston/Wright Foundation Legacy Award Nominee in Fiction, a practicing criminal attorney, and author of two critically acclaimed novels, The Perishing and Grace, and is a professor at UCLA and Antioch University.
Nawaaz Ahmed was born in Tamil Nadu, India. His debut novel, Radiant Fugitives, was a finalist for the 2022 PEN/Faulkner Award and the Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, and was longlisted for The Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and the Aspen Literary Prize. He currently lives in Brooklyn.
Tod Goldberg is the New York Times bestselling author of fifteen books, including Gangster Nation, Gangsterland, and The Low Desert. He is a professor of creative writing at UC Riverside, where he founded and directs the low residency MFA in creative writing and writing for the performing arts programs.
Maria Hummel is the author of four novels, including Still Lives, a Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick and BBC Culture Best Book of the Year. Her awards include a Wallace Stegner Fellowship, Bread Loaf Fellowship, and the APR/Honickman Poetry Prize. She teaches at the University of Vermont.
