Jonathan Safran Foer

Everything Is Illuminated

The John Adams Institute hosted author Jonathan Safran Foer, who spoke about his novel Everything Is Illuminated. The novel has been named Book of the Year by the Los Angeles Times and is the winner of numerous awards, including the Guardian First Book Prize, the National Jewish Book Award, and the New York Public Library Young Lions …...

Jay McInerney

Bright, Precious Days

One of the finest chroniclers of the city of New York returned to Amsterdam to speak at the John Adams. McInerney was also one of the institute’s first speakers. It is almost three decades since his coming-of-age classic Bright Lights, Big City, brought him fame and fortune. This account of greed and excess in 1980’s …...

Moby-Dick

White Whales: American fictions of monomania, failure, and finitude

The John Adams Institute presented a two day course at Boekhandel Van Rossum on Herman Melville’s famous novel Moby-Dick, taught by George Blaustein, associate professor at the University of Amsterdam. Grand, strange, sometimes nonsensical, occasionally prophetic, and funnier than you expect, Moby-Dick is as subtle as a sledgehammer and yet as elusive as vapor. Why …...

John Irving

Avenue of Mysteries

The John Adams Institute proudly presented an evening with widely acclaimed American novelist John Irving, who returned to the institute to discuss his fourteenth novel Avenue of Mysteries. This novel spins two remarkable tales – both about the central character Juan Diego, a successful 54-year-old international novelist who is embarking on a trip to the Philippines. …...

Garth Risk Hallberg

City on Fire

The buzz around City on Fire started already two years ago, when Garth Risk Hallberg sold the manuscript for two million dollars. Readers were not disappointed: in a brisk and superb narrative, Hallberg subjects a group of characters living in gritty New York in 1977 to an intimate examination, revolving around the shooting of a …...

Laird Hunt

Neverhome

Lucky Laird Hunt, to get praise like this from his famous fellow author Paul Auster for his novel Neverhome: “This is a spare, beautiful novel, so deeply about America and the language of America that its sentences seem to rise up from the earth itself. Magnificent.” Neverhome is the story of Constance Thompson, a woman …...

T.C. Boyle

The Harder They Come

After two decades, one of the paragons of American literature, T.C. Boyle, returns to the John Adams. His newest novel, The Harder They Come, recounts the miseries of a troubled father and son in a resonant meditation on the American frontier ethos. “From the novel’s thrilling set piece of a start … to its pensive conclusion,” The New York Times wrote “The Harder They Come is a masterly — and arresting — piece of storytelling, arguably Mr. Boyle’s most powerful, kinetic novel...

Jonathan Franzen

Purity

Jonathan Franzen has returned to the John Adams Institute with an impressive new novel about youthful idealism, fidelity, identity and secrets. Purity (in publisher Prometheus’ Dutch translation: Zuiverheid) is the story of a young girl named Pip (born Purity) Tyler who goes in search of her unknown father. Written with “conversational, enormously intelligent prose that …...

Amy Tan

The Valley of Amazement

One of the great storytellers of American literature, Amy Tan, returns to the John Adams Institute after her first visit in 1996 with a sprawling epic of mother-daughter relationship, abandonment, love and betrayal. Since her debut in 1989, The Joy Luck Club, her novels have all been New York Times bestsellers, as well as the …...

Amy Bloom

Lucky Us

With her new novel Lucky Us, Amy Bloom, a finalist for both the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award, proves again that she is one of America’s most gifted literary voices. Set in the decade of world War II, in the years between 1939 and 1949, the novel moves from past …...

Karin Slaughter

Cop Town

Karin Slaughter’s nickname says it all: she is the Queen of Suspense. She is one of crime fiction’s most celebrated award-winning writers. In the Netherlands alone she has sold more than two million copies of her books, and she is the only author ever with eight titles on the Dutch bestseller list at the same …...

Rachel Kushner

The Flamethrowers

Rachel Kushner has risen rapidly through the ranks of American literature. Her widely praised debut novel, Telex from Cuba, was already a finalist for the National Book Award in 2008, and she did it again with her new novel The Flamethrowers. In beautiful prose, Kushner weaves two stories together — one begins in Italy in …...

Michael Cunningham

The Snow Queen

Two brothers, Barrett and Tyler. As they grapple with aging and loss, the one turns to religion after seeing a nighttime vision in Central Park, the other to drugs. They are the focal point around which Michael Cunningham’s haunting new novel The Snow Queen revolves. This is the sixth book by Pulitzer Prize-winner Cunningham, who …...

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Americanah

The John Adams institute proudly hosted an event with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. An “immensely talented author”, according to Janet Maslin of The New York Times, Adichie also figured on the The New Yorker’s prestigious ‘20 Under 40’ list. Her fame skyrocketed with her widely acclaimed debut novel Purple Hibiscus, only to top this with her Orange Prize winning …...

Dan Brown

Inferno

Ten years ago, a mystery-detective novel suddenly rose to the top of the bestseller lists. That book was The Da Vinci Code, the fourth novel of an, until then, unknown novelist named Dan Brown. We all know what happened next: this ”riddle-filled, code-breaking, exhilaratingly brainy thriller,” as Janet Maslin described it,  turned into one of the …...

Margaret Atwood

MaddAddam

Margaret Atwood is one of the world’s best-loved writers. Her output extends to more than fifty volumes. While she is probably best known for her novels, she has also written poetry, nonfiction, and children’s literature. Dystopia is one of her fictional preoccupations, and in her novel, MaddAddam, Atwood is at her very best: as Booklist says, “from her …...

Mohsin Hamid

How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia

A poor boy from an unnamed village somewhere in the Third World wants to succeed in life. How to Get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia is a kind of self-help book for this character in Mohsin Hamid’s new novel, a character who might be said to represent hundreds of millions of people today. Hamid himself is a …...

Jeff Kinney

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

When Jeff Kinney was a kid in Fort Washington, Maryland, he wanted to be a cartoonist, but he couldn’t get his cartoons syndicated. In 1998 he started writing a fictional diary of a boy named Greg Heffley. In 2004, the Diary of a Wimpy Kid first appeared on the game site FunBrain. Finally, in 2007, he published it …...

Teju Cole

Open City

  Teju Cole is rapidly becoming a new literary sensation in America. His novel Open City – which won the 2012 Pen/Hemingway Award and the New York City Book Award – is unlike anything you’ve ever read. The narrator, Julius, is a Nigerian psychiatry student who lives in Manhattan and likes to walk in the city. …...

Chad Harbach

The Art of Fielding

Once in a great while, a debut novel appears that causes critics to declare an instant classic. Chad Harbach’s The Art of Fielding is such a book. The New York Times listed it as one of the 10 best books of 2011, and Amazon named it the best book of the year. It is set at a midwestern college, and it’s …...

Jeffrey Eugenides

The Marriage Plot

Jeffrey Eugenides is one of America’s greatest living novelists. If that isn’t so apparent, it may be because he only produces a new book every nine years. His first novel, The Virgin Suicides, about five girls who commit suicide in the suburbs of Detroit, electrified critics and readers alike. His second, Middlesex, about the travails …...

Lionel Shriver

So Much for That

Lionel Shriver’s novel, So Much for That, has just been nominated for the 2010 National Book Award.  Shriver follows a distinctly American tradition of exploring difficult material with elegant language. Her 2003 novel, We Need to Talk About Kevin, became a bestseller despite, or perhaps because of, its hard look at the aftermath of a mass killing …...

Michael Cunningham

By Nightfall

By Nightfall, the sixth novel by Michael Cunningham, brings us into the world of a successful New York couple whose elegant urban lives begin to unravel with the appearance of a chance visitor. Cunningham–who won the Pulitzer Prize and the PEN/Faulkner Award for his 1998 novel The Hours–proves himself once again a master both of the …...

Jonathan Franzen

Freedom

The New York Times Book Review calls Jonathan Franzen’s novel, Freedom, “a masterpiece of American fiction.” Time Magazine actually put Franzen on its cover with the title “Great American Novelist.” The accolades are coming nonstop. Franzen’s novel spans the 9/11 decade.  In following a single family, Franzen creates a vast meditation on a continent and a country; ultimately it …...

Richard Russo

That Old Cape Magic

  Where Richard Russo’s recent novels Empire Falls and Bridge of Sighswere epic in scale, his eighth book, That Old Cape Magic is smaller: a warmly comic portrait of a man in midlife crisis. While suffering through his present-day anguish, the hero, Jack Griffin, is carrying the ashes of his father in the trunk of his car: literal baggage of his past. …...

John Irving

Last Night in Twisted River

John Irving burst onto the American literary scene in 1980 with the publication of The World According to Garp. Since then, through 12 novels, he has become a fixture and a rarity: a writer both critically acclaimed and popularly beloved. His awards are numerous and quixotic: he has received a National Book Award and an Oscar …...

Ron Rash

Serena

Ron Rash writes poetry, short stories and novels.  He is a Southerner, a crafter of finely wrought literature. His work is only now getting wide exposure in the U.S.–he has quietly become a bestseller–and the attention is long past due. Listening to “the elegantly fine-tuned voice of this Appalachian poet and storyteller,” as the New York Times has it, …...

James Ellroy

Blood's a Rover

Let him say it himself: “I am the greatest crime writer who ever lived.” James Ellroy writes tough, intense fiction. He has ego and style.  Much of his oeuvre is set in Los Angeles in the 1950s, a hot landscape peopled by cops and bad deeds. His book, Blood’s a Rover, is the third of a …...

David Leavitt

The Indian Clerk

Born in Pittsburgh, educated at Yale, David Leavitt has been grouped with the likes of Edmund White as a writer who has “made art out of previously repressed and unnarrated areas of homoerotic experience.”  He is also drawn to history. The Indian Clerk takes place in the early 20th century, and revolves around the relationship between the brilliant …...

Amy Bloom

Away

The John Adams Institute presented a lecture with Amy Bloom. She might be trained as a psychotherapist, but her prose is anything but analytical. Her sensitive exploration of human interactions, expressed in a style that is luminous yet engagingly direct, has won her many fans and awards. Her novel, Away, tells the picaresque story of a Russian Jew …...

Nathan Englander

The Ministry of Special Cases

Author Nathan Englander joined us to discuss his work and his long awaited novel The Ministry of Special Cases. The novel is set in 1976 in Buenos Aires during Argentina’s “dirty war.” Its a timeless story of fathers and sons and the search for the ‘desaparecidos’. In a world turned upside down, where the past …...

Daniel Mason

A Far Country

Author of the bestseller The Piano Tuner, joined us for a lecture of his highly anticipated novel, A Far Country. Relating the story of a teenage girl’s search for her beloved older brother in a Third World country, A Far Country is a vivid, uncompromising portrayal of poverty and desperation and a universal tale about …...

Jonathan Franzen

The Discomfort Zone

Bestseller and National Book Award winner Jonathan Franzen joined us to discuss his memoir. The Discomfort Zone: A Personal History takes an intimate and humorous look at his own adolescence, his mother’s death and America during the sometimes tumultuous 1960s-70s. Franzen is a Fulbright scholar, a Guggenheim fellow and one of The New Yorker’s ’20 Writers …...

John Irving

Until I Find You

One of America’s most popular and respected writers, John Irving returned to the Netherlands to discuss his career and his latest novel, Until I Find You. Irving published his first novel at the age of twenty-six, but it was 1978’s The World According to Garp that truly made him a household name. Since then, everything he …...

A. M. Homes

This Book Will Save Your Life

Award-winning novelist and short story writer A.M. Homes visited Amsterdam to discuss her new novel This Book Will Save Your Life. It is a portrait of estrangement in the surreal netherworld of contemporary Los Angeles. Her work has been called “provocative” and “dangerous”, and specializes in bringing dark impulses and twisted tendencies to the surface. A.M. …...

James Salter

Last Night

Award-winning novelist and short story writer James Salter visited Amsterdam to discuss his latest work. His book, a collection of ten exceptional short stories entitled Last Night, has recently been translated and published in Dutch. Salter is widely regarded as one of the finest living practitioners of his craft by readers, critics and fellow writers. A …...

Jay McInerney

The Good Life

The John Adams Institute proudly presented an evening with ‘brat pack’ novelist Jay McInerney. McInerney’s first novel – Bright Lights, Big City – was an instant classic and a Hollywood hit, capturing the cocaine-fueled excess of 1980’s Manhattan like few others. Then, as he told The New York Times recently, he became one of the decadent …...

Karin Slaughter

Faithless

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with bestselling author Karin Slaughter. She visited the Institute to speak about her new book Faithless (published in Dutch as Trouweloos). In the latest installment of her popular Grant County series, medical examiner Sara Linton returns to solve another mysterious small-town death in America’s deep south. “Brilliant plotting, relentless suspense,” …...

Mark Z. Danielewski

The Fifty Year Sword

31 October 2005 The Fifty Year Sword is the much awaited successor to Danielewski’s unconventionel debut novel House of Leaves, a complex and experimental horror story packed with anagrams, puzzles, teasing typography and hidden meanings. The event coincided with the worldwide launch of this book The Fifty Year Sword (Het Vijftig Jaars Zwaard), a wicked and witty ghost story …...

Tom Wolfe

I Am Charlotte Simmons

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with journalist and writer Tom Wolfe, who spoke about his novel I Am Charlotte Simmons. In the novel, Charlotte Simmons attends the fictional Dupont University. It is there that she loses her innocence as she discovers the only way to survive at university is through sex. She tries to …...

Michael Cunningham

Specimen Days

Cunningham’s The Hours won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, as well as the prestigious PEN/Faulkner award, and went on to become an Academy Award-winning film starring Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore, and Meryl Streep. An earlier novel, A Home at the End of the World, was recently made into a film starring Sissy Spacek and Colin …...

Lisa See

Snow Flowers and the Secret Fan

Lisa See’s novel Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a brilliantly realistic journey into to a world that is as deeply moving as it is sorrowful. ‘It is achingly beautiful,’ raves best-selling author Amy Tan. ‘A marvel of imagination of a real and secret world that has only recently disappeared.’ Set in 19th century China, …...

Jonathan Safran Foer

Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close: A Novel

The John Adams Institute hosted author Jonathan Safran Foer, who spoke about his novel Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. The evening was moderated by Pieter Steinz, and included Q&A with the audience. Jonathan Safran Foer is the author of the bestseller Everything Is Illuminated, named Book of the Year by the Los Angeles Times and the …...

Louis de Bernières

Birds Without Wings

Novelist Louis de Bernières was born in London in 1954. He joined the army at 18 but left after spending four months at Sandhurst. After graduating from the Victoria University of Manchester, he took a postgraduate certificate in Education at Leicester Polytechnic and obtained his MA at the University of London. Before writing full-time, he …...

Andrew Sean Greer

The Confessions of Max Tivoli

The Confessions of Max Tivoli tells in retrospect the wondrous life story of Max Tivoli, from 1930 backwards to 1871. Max is born with the body of a septuagenarian. As time passes, his body develops from old to young, so that at the end of his life he looks like a small boy. His mind, though, …...

Paul Auster

Oracle Night

Oracle Night, Auster’s 11th novel, is a book about the power of words. It explores the typical Auster themes: fiction and reality, time and dreams, premonitions and foreboding, as well as randomness and free will. The book is narrated by writer Sydney Orr, who recounts a writing craze that overcame him twenty years ago after …...

Siri Hustvedt

What I Loved

What I Loved is the diary-like biography of art historian Leo Herzberg. It chronicles twenty-five years of his life as a participant and observer of the New York art world. In 1975, he discovers an extraordinary painting by an unknown artist in a Soho gallery. He buys the work and tracks down the artist, Bill Wechsler. …...

Adrian Nicole LeBlanc

Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble and Coming of Age in the Bronx

A frequent contributor to The New York Times Magazine and other journals, LeBlanc joined us to discuss her bestselling first book, Random Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx. Publishing house Arbeiderspers has recently released a Dutch translation of the book, Zomaar familie. Prof. Ruth Oldenziel, who acted as moderator, received her …...

Aimee Nezhukumatathil

Foreign Fruit

Aimee Nezhukumatathil is a young poet in whose work food and the pleasure of eating have found a special place. Her elegant and comical, sensual and delicate style creates poems like Are you making Dump Cake, Cheese Curds, The First Time and Fruit Cocktail Tree. They are part of her latest collection of poems Miracle Fruit (2003) and received the …...

Michael Connelly

Lost Light

The John Adams Institute, in co-operation with Publishing House De Boekerij, presented Michael Connelly, who spoke about his latest Harry Bosch novel Lost Light (Verloren Licht). Arno Ruitenbeek, crime reporter of the Noord Hollands Dagblad, introduced Michael Connelly and conducted the interview with him, as well as moderated questions from the audience. In Lost Light Harry Bosch is fifty-two years …...

Gary Shteyngart

The Russian Debutante's Handbook

The John Adams Institute, in co-operation with Prometheus Publishing House, proudly presented Gary Shteyngart, the author of The Russian Debutante’s Handbook (published by Riverhead Books), translated into Dutch under the title Handboek voor de Russische Debutante. Herman Stevens, novelist and literary critic for HP De Tijd, introduced Gary Shteyngart and interviewed him following his reading. …...

Jeffrey Eugenides

Middlesex

Jeffrey Eugenides (Detroit, 1960) spoke about his latest novel, Middlesex. Middlesex, translated in Dutch by Contact Publishers, is Eugenides’ long-awaited second novel, following his sensational debut The Virgin Suicides (1993). Stacey Knecht (New York, 1957), literary translator and staff member at the Fonds voor de Letteren (Foundation for Dutch Literature), introduced Eugenides and interviewed him …...

Wayne Johnston

Baltimore's Mansion

The John Adams Institute welcomed Canadian author Wayne Johnston next month to talk about his first work of non-fiction, Baltimore’s Mansion, which is published in Dutch by De Geus Publishing House as Het Huis van Baltimore. A beguiling blend of family history and autobiography, Johnston’s book was awarded the Charles Taylor Prize for Literary Non-Fiction. Jan Donkers, …...

Barbara Kingsolver

Prodigal Summer

The John Adams Institute welcomed American best-selling author Barbara Kingsolver to speak about her novel Prodigal Summer (2000), that had been published by Prometheus as Zomer van overvloed. Jan Donkers, writer and journalist, introduced Barbara Kingsolver and moderated the discussion with the audience. Prodigal Summer weaves together three stories of human love within a larger …...

John Irving

In Retrospective

The John Adams Institute proudly presented an evening with widely acclaimed American novelist, John Irving, on Monday 15 April 2002. Following his earlier visits to the Institute in 1991 and 1994, John Irving returned to discuss his work in retrospective. Dutch journalist and literary critic for NRC Handelsblad, Pieter Steinz, introduced Mr. Irving and moderated questions …...

Chang-rae Lee

Native Speaker

The John Adams Institute, in co-operation with Ambo Anthos Publishing House, was delighted to present an evening with Korean-born, U.S. raised Chang-rae Lee. He spoke about his first novel Native Speaker, which appeared in Dutch translation in February of that year. Native Speaker (Moedertaal) received five major awards, including the Hemingway Foundation/PEN and the American …...

Jonathan Franzen

The Corrections

The John Adams Institute, in co-operation with Prometheus Publishing House, proudly presented an evening with Jonathan Franzen, winner of the National Book Award 2001. Franzen will discuss his latest novel The Corrections, which has been translated into Dutch under the title De Correcties. Michaël Zeeman, renowned literary critic for the Dutch newspaper de Volkskrant, introduced Franzen …...

David Sedaris

Naked

David Sedaris came to the John Adams Institute to discuss his work Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day. In America, Sedaris is seen as the modern master of the short story. This genre was shocked into new popularity with his collections Barrel Fever, Holiday on Ice, Naked and Me Talk Pretty One Day. Sedaris …...

Michael Chabon

The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay

Mr. Chabon visited the John Adams Institute to talk about his novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay (De wonderlijke avonturen van Kavalier & Clay). Chabon’s third novel celebrates the golden age of the adventure comic book, the ‘great, mad and new American art form,’ which spanned the years between the late 1930’s and the …...

Lorrie Moore

Birds of America

Lorrie Moore visited the John Adams Institute to discuss her work Birds of America, a collection of short stories, published by Atlas in Dutch, Vogels van Amerika. Startingly brilliant portraits of the young, the hip, the lost, and the unsettled of modern-day America, Birds of America is concerned with the small triumphs and the large despairs of …...

Julia Alvarez

In the Name of Salomé

The John Adams Institute presented an evening with Dominican-American author, Julia Alvarez. An esteemed Latina novelist and poet, Ms. Alvarez discussed her latest work, In the Name of Salomé, which portrays the life of a recently retired librarian whose view of life is invigorated by memories brought forth by the recent rise to power of …...

Jane Urquhart

Canadian Literature Today

In honor of the 55th anniversary of Holland’s liberation by Canada’s troops during WWII, the John Adams Institute hosted Canadian author Jane Urquhart. She spoke on her own work, and the state of Canadian literature today, including authors such as Carol Shields, Margaret Atwood and Douglas Coupland. Jane Urquhart is the author of seven internationally …...

David Grossman

Be My Knife

The John Adams institute hosted Israeli novelist David Grossman, who spoke on his novel Be My Knife. Be My Knife is the fifth novel by the highly acclaimed novelist, in which he explores the perennial dilemma of unrequited love. According to The Independent, it is “a head-spinning, breathtaking journey … a celebration of the transformative power of language”. …...

Rick Moody

Purple America

American Novelist Rick Moody took the stage to talk about his novel Purple America, in which he chronicles the meltdown in a single evening of a well-to-do Connecticut family. Booklist stated: “Closely interknitting his narrative with the lyrical, soaring monologues of all the key players, Moody effortlessly moves from one striking passage to the next….it’s …...

Scott Turow

Personal Injuries

The John Adams Institute presented an evening with author and lawyer Scott Turow. He is the author of nine best-selling works of fiction, including his first novel Presumed Innocent (1987) and its sequel, Innocent (May 4, 2010). His works of non-fiction include One L (1977) about his experience as a law student, and Ultimate Punishment …...

Annie Proulx

Close Range, Wyoming Stories

The John Adams Institute presented internationally acclaimed novelist, Annie Proulx, at the American Literature Today series on 24 October, 1999 to talk about her collection of short stories, Close Range, Wyoming Stories (De gouverneurs van Wyoming, De Geus). Pieter Steinz, literary critic and NRC Handelsblad journalist, introduced and interviewed Ms. Proulx. With Close Range, Annie …...

Peter Matthiessen

Bone by Bone

The John Adams Institute presented Peter Matthiesen for the second time, marking the publication of his novel, Bone by Bone. This book is the capstone of Matthiesen’s Everglades trilogy, and is preceded by Killing Mister Watson and Lost Man’s River. In the first two volumes others reconstructed the history of Edgar Watson. In Bone by …...

Dorothy Allison

Cavedweller

The John Adams Institute welcomed American novelist, short story write and essayist Dorothy Allison , who spoke about her work and her novel Cavedweller. Regarded as Allison’s most optimistic work, Cavedweller is a tale of strength, will and redemption. The novel is about Delia Byrd, an alcoholic rock singer who quites her troubled career to …...

Mordecai Richler

The Literary Life

The John Adams Institute presented a special Canadian guest, Mordecai Richler, who discussed his novel Barney’s Vision. In Barney’s Vision, the main character, Barney Panovsky, is forced to write his memoirs when a sworn enemy threatens to publish a biography riddled with accusations, including murder. In a racy voice, Barney vents his gall about feminists, …...

Pearl Abraham

Giving Up America

To mark the publication of both the original and the Dutch translation of her novel, Giving Up America, Pearl Abraham visited the John Adams Institute. Giving Up America is the story of a young couple, Deena and Daniel, who have their roots in different Jewish traditions. The reader follows their lives for the period of …...

Colum McCann

This Side of Brightness

The John Adams Institute welcomed Irish author, Colum McCann, who spoke about his daring and atmospheric novel, This Side of Brightness. The book spans seventy years from the days when men dug beneath the East River to build the subways of New York to a time when those very tunnels became home to the city’s …...

Don DeLillo

Underworld

The John Adams Institute welcomed the award-winning author Don DeLillo, who enjoyed glorious reviews for his masterpiece Underworld. This mesmerizing novel opens up with a legendary baseball game played in New York City in 1951, follows an obsessive search for the winning baseball, and covers five decades of American social history against the background of …...

James Ellroy

My Dark Places

Thriller writer James Ellroy came to the John Adams Institute to speak about his autobiography My Dark Places, a memoir about the search for the murderer of his mother who was killed when Ellroy was 10 years old. Ellroy has written over 20 books, including Blood on the Moon, American Tabloid and tetralogy L.A. Quartet. …...

Anna Quindlen

Black and Blue

To coincide with the Dutch translation of her new novel Black and Blue, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and bestselling author Anna Quindlen gave a lecture in the American Literature Today series on 21 April, 1998. After graduating from Barnard, Anna Quindlen (b. 1952) became a general assignment reporter on The New York Times at age …...

Siri Hustvedt

The Enchantment of Lily Dahl

Celebrated novelist Siri Hustvedt came to the John Adams Insitute to give a lecture about the concept of enchantment and her novel, The Enchantment of Lily Dahl. She first received much critical acclaim with her debut novel The Blindfold (1992). In The Enchantment of Lily Dahl, Hustvedt creates an intriguing, atmospheric world in which she …...

Edmund White

The Farewell Symphony

In the wake of the publication of his novel The Farewell Symphony, Edmund White spoke at the John Adams Institute. The Farewell Symphony, named after Haydn’s orchestral work in which all the instrumentalists abandon the ensemble in turn until the last violinist is left playing solo, is the story of a gay man who has …...

Philip Margolin

The Burning Man

Upon the Dutch translation of his fifth book, best-selling author Phillip Margolin lectured at the John Adams Institute. Margolin, who grew up in New York, is a famous criminal lawyer from Portland, Oregon, where he practices together with his wife. He has argued before the Supreme Court and defended 30 people charged with homicide, several …...

Carol Shields

Happenstance

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with Pulitzer Prize winning author, Carol Shields, who made her literary debut at 40 with Small Ceremonies (1975). She has written more than 10 award-winning books since, including Swann, The Republic of Love and Various Miracles. Shield’s highly unorthodox novel, The Stone Diaries, made her famous. It is …...

Malcolm Bradbury

Dangerous Pilgrimages

The John Adams Institute invited the renowned British professor of American Studies and scholar of American Literature Malcolm Bradbury, who spoke about the American Novel and its origin. Bradbury not only has a reputation as an eloquent writer and a feared critic, he is also known as a television dramatist and gifted speaker. Malcolm Bradbury …...

Amy Bloom

Love Invents Us

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with the American writer and psychotherapist Amy Bloom. In the lecture series American Literature Today, she introduced her long-awaited novel Love Invents Us. The Dutch translation, Liefde maakt ons, was published by Nijgh & Van Ditmar in February 1997. In 1994, Bloom (1953) impressed the literary world with …...

Alan Isler

Kraven Images

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with the British-born American author, Alan Isler. Appearing in the lecture series American Literature Today, Isler introduced his novel Kraven Images – a pun on the biblical “graven images”, or idols – which had been recently published in Dutch as De Beelden van Nicholas Kraven. Born in London, …...

Annie Proulx

Postcards

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with the American novelist Annie Proulx (1935), who caused a literary sensation with her first novel Postcards (1992). She continued to surprise readers and critics alike with her second novel, The Shipping News (1993), for which she won both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. Everything …...

Joan Brady

Death Comes for Peter Pan

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with Joan Brady, the American-British novelist whose highly acclaimed novel, Theory of War, won her the Whitebread Book of the Year Award. In her novels, Brady does not shy away from controversial topics. Especially Theory of War, dealing with white slavery, evoked harsh criticism. In her novel Death …...

Ariel Dorfman

Konfidenz

The John Adams Institute hosted an evening with the author and scholar Ariel Dorfman, who introduced his novel Konfidenz. Dorfman achieved international fame when his 1992 Broadway play Death and the Maiden, starring Glenn Close and Gene Hackman, was made into a movie by Roman Polanski. Born in Argentina in 1942, Dorfman spent his childhood …...

T.C. Boyle

The Tortilla Curtain

T. Coraghessen Boyle visited the John Adams Institute to speak about his novel The Tortilla Curtain, a controversial tale about political correctness, hypocrisy and American attitudes. A liberal pilgrim to California is confronted with his own ideals when they are put to the test due to an accidental meeting with illegal Mexicans living, practically, in …...

Robert Olen Butler

A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain

On May 2, 1995, the John Adams Institute hosted an event with Pulitzer Prize winning author Robert Olen Butler. He spoke about his book  A Good Scent from a Strange Mountain. The evening was moderated by Dutch writer Stephen Sanders. Robert Olen Butler became a writer after he had served with the U.S. Army as a linguist …...

Joseph Heller

Closing Time

On March 16, 1995, the John Adams Institute hosted best-selling author Joseph Heller. He spoke about his novel Closing Time, the sequel to Catch 22. The evening was moderated by British author Anthony Paul. In 1961, Joseph Heller published his first, best-selling novel, and unique war satire, Catch 22. Although he has since published many other works, including …...

Seamus Heaney

An Evening with Irish Poet

On January 26, 1995, The John Adams Institute, The British Council and The Cultural Relations Committee of Ireland hosted an evening with the poet Seamus Heaney. Often called ‘the greatest Irish poet since Yeats’, Seamus Heaney’s standing is universally acknowledged. Starting with his debut collection Death of a Naturalist, followed by another fifteen-odd titles including …...

Alice Hoffman

Second Nature

On October 18, 1994, the John Adams Institute hosted author Alice Hoffman, who spoke on her novel Second Nature (translated in Dutch as De Wolveman). The evening was moderated by journalist J.J. Peereboom. Following her debut with Turtle Moon (Het uur van de schildpad) in 1972, Alice Hoffman wrote five novels before achieving major breakthrough with Illumination …...

John Irving

A Son of the Circus

On October 12th, 1994, the John Adams Institute hosted author John Irving for a second time. He spoke about his novel A Son of The Circus, and read aloud from his own work. The evening was moderated by journalist Hans Bouman, and included Q&A with the audience. John Winslow Irving grew up in Exeter, New Hampshire, and …...

Robert Bly

Meditations on Iron John

On April 16th, 1994, the John Adams Institute hosted an evening with poet Robert Bly. He spoke on his work Iron John: A Book about Men. The evening was moderated by Ton van der Kroon. Robert Bly has been hailed as one of the key liberators of American poetry. In his creative work, as well as …...

Margaret Atwood

The Robber Bride

On March 29th, 1994, the John Adams Institute hosted author Margaret Atwood, who spoke about her novel The Robber Bride. The evening was moderated by Dutch author Nelleke Noordervliet, and included an interview afterwards. Margaret Atwood has often been called “the ambassador of Canadian literature”. In addition to her seven novels including best-sellers like The Handmaid’s …...

Marilyn French

Our Father

On February 15th, 1994, the John Adams Institute hosted author Marilyn French, who spoke about her novel Our Father (translated in Dutch as Onze Vader). Cynthia Bunton moderated the evening, which included Q&A with the audience, and a book signing. Marilyn French was born in New York in 1929 and has devoted most of her writing career …...

Derek Walcott

On May 12th, 1993, the John Adams Institute hosted poet Derek Walcott. He is a Saint Lucian poet and playwright who won the Nobel Peace Prize for Literature in 1992, making him the first Caribbean author to receive this honor. His major works include Omeros, Dream on Monkey Mountain and White Egrets. He lectured on …...

Donna Tartt

The Secret History

On March 14th, 1993, American author Donna Tartt visited the John Adams Institute to speak about her bestselling novel The Secret History, which has been translated into 24 languages. The Secret History takes places at a fictional college where a close-knit group of six students embark upon a secretive plan to stage a bacchanal, a …...

Douglas Coupland

Burning Down the Mall

On February 17th, 1993, the John Adams Insitute hosted Canadian novelist Douglas Coupland. He is best known for his first novel and international bestseller Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. He lectured on his debut and his second novel Shampoo Planet. He read aloud from his third novel, that had not been published at that …...

Gloria Naylor

Black Women in America: Fact and Fiction

On October 26th, 1993, the John Adams Institute hosted author Gloria Naylor, who lectured on the facts and fiction of black women in America. Since Gloria Naylor began publishing in the early 1980s, she has written five novels including The Women of Brewster Place (1982), Linden Hills (1985) and Bailey’s Cafe (1992). The Women of …...

Alice Walker

Possessing the Secret of Joy

On October 23th, 1992, the John Adams Institute hosted author Alice Walker for the second time. She spoke about her then newly translated novel Possessing the Secret of Joy (translated in Dutch as Het Geheim van de Vreugde), and female genital mutilation. The evening was moderated by Astrid Roemer. Alice Walker is an internationally celebrated author, poet …...

Charles Johnson

The Black Identity in America

On April 3rd, the John Adams Institute hosted an evening with author Charles Johnson. He is an American author of novels, short stories, screen-and-teleplays, and essays, mostly focused on philosophy. Johnson has addressed the issues of black life in America in novels such as Dreamer and Middle Passage, which won the U.S. National Book Award …...

David Leavitt

on His Works

On December 9th, 1992, the John Adams Institute hosted author David Leavitt for the first time. He lectured on his novel While England Sleeps, and spoke about The Penguin Book of Gay Short Stories, which he co-edited with Mark Mitchell. The evening was moderated by Bas Heijne, and included Q&A with the audience. “For most of my …...

Marsha Hunt

On November 18th, 1992, the John Adams Institute hosted actress and novelist Marsha Hunt. She spoke about her novels Joy and Free and read aloud from them to the audience. The evening was moderated by Dutch actress Jenny Mijnhijmer Marsha Hunt is an American actress, musician, model and novelist. She wrote her first novel, Joy, in 1990 …...

Michael Cunningham

The Impulse to Create

On May 8th, 1992, the John Adams Institute hosted author Michael Cunningham. Michael Cunningham is the author of the novels A Home at the End of the World, Flesh and Blood, The Hours (winner of the Pen/Faulkner Award & Pulitzer Prize), Specimen Days, and By Nightfall, as well as the non-fiction book, Land’s End: A …...

Nicholson Baker

Reading Aloud

On March 5th, 1992, the John Adams Institute hosted American author Nicholson Baker. Baker writes both fiction and non-fiction and his works include Double Fold: Libraries and the Assault on Paper, The Mezzanine and The Fermata. In 1999, Baker established a non-profit corporation, the American Newspaper Repository, to rescue old newspapers from destruction by libraries. …...

Homero Aridjis

1492 and the Drama of American Conquista

In the lecture series American Literature Today, the John Adams Institute will present an evening with the Mexican author and poet Homero Aridjis. Homero Aridjis (1940) studied philosophy and literature in Mexico City and was professor of Mexican Literature at the University of Indiana and at New York Univeristy. He is generally considered to be …...

Jerzy Kosinski

The "Autofiction" of Jerzy Kosinski

Jerzy Kosinski was an award-winning Polish-American novelist who wrote primarily in English. He visited the John Adams Institute on September 27th, 1990. He spoke on autofiction, a literary genre that allows the author to take on the shape of his fictional protagonist. Born in Poland, he survived World War II and as a young man …...

Bruce Duffy

On Wednesday April 17th, 1991, the John Adams Institute hosted an evening with American author Bruce Duffy. He is best known for his novel The World As I Found It. In his remarkable first novel, Ludwig Wittgenstein calls the Tune. This time, the most significant, poetical, and imaginative thinker of this centiury meets Bertrand Russel …...

John Irving

The World According to the Author

On October 16th, 1990, author John Irving visited the John Adams Institute. He spoke about his work as an author. The evening was moderated by Theo d’Haen (professor of British and American Literature at the Universiteit Leiden) and Hans Bertens (professor of American Studies at the Universiteit Utrecht). John Irving’s first novel, Setting Free The …...

Lisa Alther

on "Bedrock"

Author Lisa Alther visited the John Adams Institute on October 30th, 1990. She spoke about her then newly translated novel Bedrock (published in Dutch as Een vrouw van vlees en bloed). The evening was moderated by Dutch writer Hannes Meinkema. From her own page: Lise Alther was born in 1944 in Kingsport, Tennessee and graduated from …...