Skirball's Virtual Book Club Announces HOME FIRE, Inspired By Antigone

NYU Skirball's Virtual Book Club will focus on Kamila Shamsie's Home Fire, longlisted for the 2017 year's Man Booker Prize, on Friday, May 15 from 5 - 6 pm, via Zoom. The event is free, but RSVP's (with e-mail address) are necessary to receive the Zoom link to the event. More information on the book and author, discussion prompts, excerpts and Zoom discussion guidelines can be found at www.nyuskirball.org/book-club.

Home Fire is a contemporary reimagining of the Greek tragedy Antigone. The novel, set in the U.S., London and the Middle East, tells a suspenseful and heartbreaking story of an immigrant family driven to pit love against loyalty, with devastating consequences. Two families' fates are inextricably, devastatingly entwined in this searing novel that asks: What sacrifices will we make in the name of love?

"The pacing in Home Fire is near perfect; it's a difficult book to put down, especially once the reader becomes invested in the characters. And thanks to Shamsie's detailed look at the members of the two families, that doesn't take long." Read more from NPR.

Kamila Shamsie is the author of six novels: In the City by the Sea (shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize); Salt and Saffron; Kartography (also shortlisted for the John Llewellyn Rhys Prize); Broken Verses; Burnt Shadows (shortlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction) and A God in Every Stone. Home Fire was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2017 and won the London Hellenic Prize and the Women's Prize for Fiction 2018. She grew up in Karachi and now lives in London.

NYU Skirball's Book Blub chooses one book to complement each show in its season, and usually meets in the Skirball lobby for happy hour drinks and discussion. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the Book Club will meet online, via Zoom. Home Fire was originally paired with JoAnne Akalaitis: BAD NEWS! I was there..., the opening presentation on Skirball's 2019-20 season, which also reimagined Greek classics in a contemporary context.

The Virtual Book Club's next pick is Ross Gay's The Book of Delights, on Friday, May 29 from 5 - 6 pm.

The Book of Delights is a genre-defying book of essays-some as short as a paragraph; some as long as five pages-that record the small joys that occurred in one year, from birthday to birthday, and that we often overlook in our busy lives. His is a meditation on delight that takes a clear-eyed view of the complexities, even the terrors, in his life, including living in America as a black man; the ecological and psychic violence of our consumer culture; the loss of those he loves.

NYU Skirball, located in the heart of Greenwich Village, is one of New York City's major presenters of international work, and has been the premier venue for cultural and performing arts events in lower Manhattan since 2003. The 800-seat theater, led by Director Jay Wegman, provides a home for internationally renowned artists, innovators and thinkers. NYU Skirball hosts over 300 events annually, from re-inventions of the classics to cutting-edge premieres, in genres ranging from dance, theater and performance arts to comedy, music and film. nyuskirball.org.

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