Marion Winik's New Book, The Baltimore Book of the Dead, in M.F.A. Reading Series, Oct. 25
October 1, 2018
Contact: Office of Government and Public Affairs
Phone: 410.837.5739
Critically praised author Marion Winik, associate professor in the University of Baltimore's Klein Family School of Communications Design, will read from her new collection, The Baltimore Book of the Dead, as the M.F.A. Reading Series continues on Thursday, Oct. 25, at 7 p.m. in the Bogomolny Room in the UB Student Center, 21 W. Mt. Royal Ave. The event is free and open to the public.
When Cheryl Strayed was asked by The Boston Globe to name a book she finds herself recommending time and again, she chose Prof. Winik's The Glen Rock Book of the Dead. Now that book has a sequel, The Baltimore Book of the Dead, another collection of brief portraits, their compressed narratives weaving an unusual, richly populated memoir. UB's celebration of its publication wiill take on a slightly early "Day of the Dead" party atmosphere, including Mexican decorations and refreshments. All are invited to bring photographs of lost loved ones and/or objects associated with them to add to the traditional-style altar of marigolds and candles.
Prof. Winik says she is a "big fan" of the Day of the Dead, the Mexican holiday that combines mourning and celebration.
A longtime All Things Considered commentator (1991-2006), Winik is the author of First Comes Love, Highs in the Low Fifties and seven other books. The host of The Weekly Reader radio show and podcast based at WYPR, she reviews books for Newsday, People, and Kirkus Reviews; she also is a vice president of the National Book Critics Circle. Her "Bohemian Rhapsody" column at BaltimoreFishbowl.com has received the "Best Column" and "Best Humorist" awards from Baltimore magazine, and her essays have been published in The New York Times Magazine, The Baltimore Sun and many other publications. She has appeared on Today, Politically Incorrect and Oprah.
First reviews of the new book are highly positive:
"Empathy figures in Marion Winik's The Baltimore Book of the Dead, along with her sharp eye and wicked wit," says Library Journal, granting the title an Editors' Pick for Fall 2018. "This sequel ... has more achingly beautiful and succinct obituaries of the people (and a few pets) from Winik's wide, idiosyncratic circle of family, friends, colleagues, lovers, and enemies. This superfast read will spur rereading and the terrible wish that more people in Winik's circle would expire just so she could memorialize them."
"Captivating," says Publishers Weekly. "Winik writes with a delightfully light and nuanced hand."
"You’ll want to read The Baltimore Book of the Dead as slowly as possible because every observation is a marvel, every sentence a heartbreak or a revelation of joy," says author Ann Patchett. "This book is both brief and miraculous, and it will be finished before you’re ready to let it go. Like life."
"This slim, deeply moving book reminds us of the beauty and pain and complexity in every life, no matter how obscure," says author Tom Perotta. "Winik’s prose is deceptively rich, suffused with quiet emotion and tender humor. She teaches us how to remember."
Read an interview with Prof. Winik in Baltimore Style.
Learn more about Prof. Marion Winik. Visit her website.
Learn more about the M.F.A. Reading Series and the University of Baltimore's M.F.A. in Creative Writing & Publishing Arts.