Andrew Sean Greer, Celebrated MacDowell Author Comes to WRITERS IN THE LOFT 7/24

On Monday, July 24, New York Times bestselling author Andrew Sean Greer (The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells; The Confessions of Max Tivoli) comes to town with his latest work LESS: A Novel-the hilarious tale of Arthur Less, a failed novelist whose escapades through Paris to Morocco, Southern India to the Arabian Sea keep him on the run...from turning 50!

The 7pm event includes an author presentation and moderated Q+A, plus book signing and meet-and-greet. It will be held at the Music Hall Loft at 131 Congress Street, in downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Michelle Aldredge, Founding Editor of Gwarlingo, will be the evening's guest moderator. Aldredge first met Greer at The MacDowell Colony, the nation's oldest artist retreat located in Peterborough, New Hampshire, and is thrilled to interview him about LESS. "Andy's latest novel is poignant, hilarious, and full of wise, uncomfortable truths about love, growing older, and the perils of the writing life. To hear him read live and discuss his own misadventures traveling around the world as a roving novelist will be a treat. I've known Andy for 16 years, and his conversations are as entertaining and sharp as his writing. I'm looking forward to a lively discussion in the Loft on July 24!"

ABOUT THE BOOK

Who says you can't run away from your problems?

You are a failed novelist about to turn fifty. A wedding invitation arrives in the mail: Your boyfriend of the past nine years is engaged to someone else. You can't say yes-it would be too awkward-and you can't say no-it would look like defeat. On your desk are a series of invitations to half-baked literary events around the world.

Question: How do you arrange to skip town?

Answer: You accept every travel invitation.

What could possibly go wrong? Arthur Less will almost fall in love in Paris, almost fall to his death in Berlin, barely escape to a Moroccan ski chalet from a Saharan sandstorm, accidentally book himself as the (only) writer-in-residence at a Christian Retreat Center in Southern India, and encounter, on a desert island in the Arabian Sea, the last person on Earth he wants to face. Somewhere in there, he will turn fifty. Through it all, there is his first love. And there is his last.

Because, despite all these mishaps, misunderstandings, and mistakes, LESS is, above all, a love story.

A scintillating satire of the American abroad, a rumination on time and the human heart, a bittersweet romance of chances lost, by the author The New York Times has hailed as "inspired," "lyrical," "elegiac," "ingenious," and "too sappy by half," LESS shows a writer at the peak of his talents raising the curtain on our shared human comedy. Don't miss the chance to hear Andrew Sean Greer speak more about LESS!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Andrew Sean Greer is the bestselling author of five works of fiction, including The Confessions of Max Tivoli, which was named a best book of 2004 by the San Francisco Chronicle and the Chicago Tribune. He is the recipient of the Northern California Book Award, the California Book Award, the New York Public Library Young Lions Award, the O Henry award for short fiction, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Public Library. Greer lives in San Francisco. He has traveled to all of the locations in the novel, but he is only "big" in Italy.

ABOUT THE MODERATOR

Michelle Aldredge is a writer, speaker, curator, and the founding editor of Gwarlingo, an online arts and culture journal. Her popular Gwarlingo Salon series connects artists like DJ Spooky with rural audiences in the Monadnock region. In 2017 she and collaborator Corwin Levi will publish their first book, Mirror Mirrored, which combines Grimms' fairy tales with vintage illustration remixes and the work of contemporary artists like Kiki Smith, Carrie Mae Weems, and Amy Cutler. In 2015 Michelle was named a "Top 100 Artist, Innovator, Creative" by Origin magazine, and she is a 2017 recipient of the Wampler Art Professorship at James Madison University. From 1999-2012 Michelle worked at The MacDowell Colony, the nation's oldest artist retreat, where she first met Andrew Sean Greer in the summer in 2001. They shared many conversations about writing in the years that followed (as well as a few New Hampshire adventures that involved dancing and pick-up trucks).

TICKETS

The ticket package for Writers in the Loft: Andrew Sean Greer on Monday, July 24 at 7pm is $40 ($38, members). In addition to a reserved seat, the package includes a copy of LESS: A Novel ($26, hardcover), a bar beverage, and book signing meet-and-greet. Packages can be purchased online at TheMusicHall.org, over the phone at 603.436.2400 or in person at the B2W Box Office at the Historic Theater, 28 Chestnut Street.

About Writers in the Loft

Akin to The Music Hall's anchor literary series, Writers on a New England Stage, Writers in the Loft features bestselling authors in a smaller, more intimate space. The series brings audiences today's top authors, the best of fiction and nonfiction, and award-winners across categories. The evening package includes a reserved seat and bar beverage, author presentation and Q+A, a copy of the book, and a meet-and-greet book signing with the featured writer.

Contributing Partner: The University of New Hampshire

Season Sponsors: Carey & Giampa Realtors; Portwalk Place; The River House restaurant

About The Music Hall

The Music Hall is a performing arts center featuring curated entertainment from around the world in two theaters in its downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire campus - one, a landmark 1878 Victorian theater, designated an American Treasure for the Arts by the National Park Service's Save America's Treasures Program, the other the intimate Music Hall Loft around the corner, recently named "best performing arts venue" by Yankee Magazine and the recipient of the NH AIA award for design excellence.

Web: www.TheMusicHall.org | Twitter: @MusicHall | Facebook: /musichall | YouTube: /musichallnh