What we talk about when we talk about Anne Frank

Englander, Nathan · March 18, 2013

After reading from the title story of his new collection, Englander shared his compelling reflections on a wide variety of topics related to writing, identity, the Holocaust, politics, and personality. He observed that everything must be understood in multiple contexts as meanings are variable, and that all that he says and writes is responsive to overlapping but particular concerns. Englander is the author of the short story collection What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank, which won the 2012 Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award. He first became known for his internationally bestselling short story collection For the Relief of Unbearable Urges (1999), followed by the novel The Ministry of Special Cases (2007). Englander was selected by The New Yorker as one of the "20 Writers for the 21st Century"; he received a Guggenheim Fellowship, a PEN/Malamud Award, the Bard Fiction Prize, and the Sue Kaufman Prize from the American Academy of Arts & Letters. Before his lecture, Englander met informally with a group of students and faculty for an intimate discussion of the themes of his work and to talk about the artistic process more broadly. The evening culminated in a dinner with faculty, students, and distinguished guests.