KEITH GESSEN
Wednesday, April 30 at 8 p.m.

Here a few months ago in his guise as founding editor of the noteworthy literary journal n+1, Russia-born translator (Voices from Chernobyl, the forthcoming Scary Fairy Tales by Ludmila Petrushevskaya) and critic Keith Gessen is here with a much-praised first novel, All the Sad Young Literary Men (Viking). "A debut novel ... that skewers the literary and romantic ambitions of three well-educated, tightly-wound young men. This black-comedy-in-stories alternates among three protagonists .. who have little contact with one another but who have in common age, bafflement and hunger for literary fame ... Gessen strikes a marvelous balance between pitilessness and affection toward these young men, and manages the impressive feat of being simultaneously savage and tender. A fiercely intelligent, darkly funny first novel." - Kirkus Reviews.

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