Lydia Davis, compliments of David Ignaszewski

Ah, how we love Lydia Davis.... We're so excited that she will be here in Seattle next week to speak on the subject of "A Beloved Duck Gets Cooked: The Influence of Innovative Forms." Yes, we know that this premise may sound strange, but if you've read her work, you understand--this woman is quite the odd duck herself, and we absolutely love her for it.

Once married to another favorite author of ours, Paul Auster, Davis has been a prominent female voice in literature since the 1970s. She is most well known for her off-beat, humorous short stories--some of which are only a sentence or two long. Davis has won many outstanding awards for her work, and currently teaches creative writing at the University of Albany, SUNY in New York.

Her latest collection, rightfully titled The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis recently came out this past September to a hail of critic acclaim. James Wood, a writer for The New Yorker, says of Davis in a recent review, "Finally one can read a large portion of Davis's work, spanning three decades and more than seven hundred pages, and a grand cumulative achievement comes into view--a body of work probably unique in American writing, in its combination of lucidity, aphoristic brevity, formal originality, sly comedy, metaphysical bleakness, philosophical pressure, and human wisdom. I suspect that The Collected Stories of Lydia Davis will in time be seen as one of the great, strange American literary contributions, distinct and crookedly personal, like the work of Flannery O'Connor, or Donald Barthelme, or J.F. Powers."

That being said, even if you were only planning on making it out to one SAL event this year, we'd highly recommend that it be this one. With her wonderfully unique and powerful voice, Davis will be sure to impress us with a fun and quirky, unforgettable lecture. Elliott Bay Book Company will also be on hand at Benaroya Hall selling Davis' latest collection along with her previous works so that you won't miss getting a signed copy. And really, nothing beats a signed copy!

Filed in Arts & Events and tagged benaroya hall, elliott bay book company, lydia davis, paul auster, seattle arts & lectures, the collected stories of lydia davis