Four authors and an actor to gather in a 1920s Brooklyn ballroom to honor late writer Stephen Dixon

The late novelist and short story writer Stephen Dixon will be honored by authors and an actor at “Celebrating Stephen Dixon,” a literary event hosted by Murmrr in the Union Temple of Brooklyn, near Grand Army Plaza, on Thursday, February 27,, 2020 at 7:30 PM. Dixon, a Manhattan native, died this past November at the age of 83.

Describing himself in a 2007 interview in Johns Hopkins Magazine as a “compulsive writer,” Dixon wrote almost daily on a manual typewriter. He was prolific, publishing 18 novels and 17 short story collections, among other writings. While never a household name, Dixon was a two-time National Book Award nominee (for the novels Frog and Interstate) and recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (awarded to those “who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts,” according to their website) and two National Endowment of the Arts grants (awarded, according to their website, to publicly fund projects of “artistic excellence”), along with other esteemed literary honors, including many O. Henry Awards and Pushcart Prizes. 

According to Dixon’s obituary in The New York Times, his “hyper-realistic novels and short stories reflected his fascination with personal loss, sex, heartbreak, disaster, marriage and old age.” Known, not always favorably, for his experimental style, The Washington Post called his work “sprawling and sometimes manic, with run-on sentences, endless paragraphs and an immersive style that detailed the messy, meandering thoughts of [its] protagonists.” 

Dixon influenced countless writers through his 27 years of teaching at Maryland’s Johns Hopkins University. Writing on the website Lithub, former student Kristopher Jansma remembers how particular Dixon was about his craft, sharing his early struggles with an editor over suggested changes. Jansma writes, “Dixon told us how he’d fought each and every edit, one at a time, until at last the man surrendered and published the story without a single change. ‘You have to say what you mean,’ he told us, and something about his tone made it like both a threat and a blessing. ‘And say it how you mean it.’”

Another of Dixon’s students, the novelist and memoirist Porochista Khakpour (Sick), will be sharing her reminisces of Dixon at the event (on Twitter she called him “my great mentor”). She will be joined by Academy Award-winning and Emmy-nominated actor F. Murray Abraham, short story writer Diane Williams (The Collected Stories of Diane Williams), writer Blake Butler (300,000,000), and editor Dennis Johnson (co-founder of independent publisher Melville House).

The event, co-sponsored by Park Slope’s Community Bookstore, is part of Murmrr’s ongoing “Lit” series of readings and other author-related events hosted in their atmospheric 1920s ballroom. Close to Prospect Park, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, the Brooklyn Museum, and the main branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, Murmrr is located at 17 Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY 11238, and accessible via the 2/3 subway line to the Grand Army Plaza stop. 

Doors for the event open at 6:30 PM. Tickets for the “all ages” show cost $12 and are on sale at MURMRR.com.

Author

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

Comments are closed.

READ OUR FULL PRINT EDITION

click here to see our previous issues.

Our Sister Publication

a word from our sponsors!

Latest Media Guide!

Where to find the Star-Revue

Instagram

How many have visited our site?

wordpress hit counter

Social Media

Most Popular

On Key

Related Posts

Special birthday issue – information for advertisers

Author George Fiala George Fiala has worked in radio, newspapers and direct marketing his whole life, except for when he was a vendor at Shea Stadium, pizza and cheesesteak maker in Lancaster, PA, and an occasional comic book dealer. He studied English and drinking in college, international relations at the New School, and in his spare time plays drums and

PS 15’s ACES program a boon for students with special needs, by Laryn Kuchta

At P.S. 15 Patrick F. Daly in Red Hook, staff are reshaping the way elementary schoolers learn educationally and socially. They’ve put special emphasis on programs for students with intellectual disabilities and students who are learning or want to learn a second language, making sure those students have the same advantages and interactions any other child would. P.S. 15’s ACES

Big donors taking an interest in our City Council races

The New York City Council primary is less than three months away, and as campaigns are picking up steam, so are donations. In districts 38 and 39 in South Brooklyn, Incumbents Alexa Avilés (District 38) and Shahana Hanif (District 39) are being challenged by two moderate Democrats, and as we reported last month, big money is making its way into

Wraptor celebrates the start of spring

Red Hook’s Wraptor Restaurant, located at 358 Columbia St., marked the start of spring on March 30. Despite cool weather in the low 50s, more than 50 people showed up to enjoy the festivities. “We wanted to do something nice for everyone and celebrate the start of the spring so we got the permits to have everyone out in front,”