Ken Kalfus w/ Rachel Monroe

Booksmith and Headlands Center for the Artspresent Ken Kalfus in-conversation with Rachel Monroe

Ken Kalfus’ Coup de Foudre is a collection of short stories that includes the full text of the title novella that first appeared in Harper’s Magazine. Recalling news events with irony and compassion, Kalfus writes the ultimately tragic story about the president of an international lending institution accused of sexually assaulting a housekeeper in a New York hotel. The fifteen stories that follow vary boldly in theme, setting, and tone but all share the distinctive humor and intellect found throughout Kalfus’ award-winning work.

Ken Kalfus and Rachel Monroe are current Writers in Residence at Headlands Center for the Arts.

Ken Kalfus is the author of three novels,Equilateral, A Disorder Peculiar to the Country, which was a finalist for the National Book Award, and The Commissariat of Enlightenment. He has also published the story collections Thirst and Pu-239 and Other Russian Fantasies, the latter a finalist for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the basis for the HBO film Pu-239. Kalfus recently received a Pew Fellowships in the Arts award and a Guggenheim fellowship. He lives in Philadelphia.

Rachel Monroe has previously written for Oxford American, the New York Times, theLos Angeles Review of Books, and The Awl.