Writers’ Workshop graduate and instructor Don Waters will read from his new novel, Sunland, at 7 p.m. Monday, Oct. 28, in a free reading at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City. The reading also will be streamed live on the University of Iowa Writing University website.
Sid Dulaney, in his mid-30s, between jobs and short on funds, has moved back to Tucson to take care of his beloved grandmother. To hold down the cost of her prescriptions, he reluctantly starts smuggling medications over the border. His picaresque misadventures involve the lovable eccentrics at her retirement village, Mexican gang threats, a voluptuous former babysitter, midnight voicemails from his exasperated ex-girlfriend, and, perplexingly, a giraffe.
Ben Fountain, author of Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, says, “Don Waters shows he’s in the top rank of the new generation of American writers. This beautiful, rambunctious novel takes us on a wild ride across all kinds of borders, yinning and yanging between Mexico and the USA, youth and age, faith and betrayal, legal and outlaw, sober and stoned, and last but by no means least, love and the Void. The writing is gorgeous, the characters ring true on every page, and the story hurtles along with many a hairpin twist and turn. Fasten your seatbelt when you open this book, and hang on.”
Waters is the author of the story collection Desert Gothic, which won the Iowa Short Fiction Award. His work has been anthologized in Pushcart Prize, Best of the West, and New Stories from the Southwest. He has written for the New York Times Book Review, Outside, The Believer, and Slate.
The Iowa Writers’ Workshop is a graduate program in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all UI-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to attend this reading, call Jan Weissmiller at Prairie Lights in advance at 319-337-2681.
For a UI arts calendar and details about upcoming events visit the Arts Iowa website.