In English professor Mona Simpson’s novel, “Anywhere
But Here,” 12-year-old Ann is forced to awkwardly adjust to
her new Los Angeles surroundings. Unlike her novel’s
protagonist, Simpson has had no trouble making UCLA her home.
“One of the great advantages of a city school is you can
create a (group) around an interest which will include students,
members of the community and the world at large,” she
said.
In order to take advantage of the urban collegiate environment,
Simpson has launched a literary series that brings accomplished
writers into a smaller, more intimate atmosphere. UCLA Live’s
“Our Favorite Writers: A Series of Readings and Shop Talk
with Mona Simpson” is sponsored by UCLA English Department
and the Atlantic Monthly, and has invited six fiction writers to
UCLA for casual discussions with Simpson.
On Thursday night the series will host two-time Booker prize
winner Peter Carey at the Freud Playhouse.
Simpson used the series to abandon the conventional notion that
a literary series only involves authors of a certain stature
appearing to promote their books.
“I’m just inviting writers I really like, and
I’m just trying to find people at a moment where they can
come and be excited about (writing),” Simpson said.
Benjamin Schwarz, Simpson’s friend and literary editor of
the Atlantic Monthly, got the magazine involved in the series.
“The magazine doesn’t review many works of fiction,
and the ones it does tend to be the ones we admire. Mona’s
writers are some of my favorite writers,” he said.
From September guest Jeffrey Eugenides, author of “The
Virgin Suicides,” to the upcoming Tobias Wolff, who wrote
“This Boy’s Life,” Simpson’s selected
writers represent a variety of interests to stir discussion.
“She is an extraordinarily well-connected writer. She has
a very finely developed sense of who is good despite their
reputation. This is a very discriminating series, and that is the
best kind of series,” said Schwarz.
Simpson, who is currently working on a novel titled “My
Hollywood,” graduated from Berkeley and received her MFA from
Columbia, where she began working on her acclaimed book
“Anywhere But Here.” After college she worked for the
Paris Review and wrote “A Regular Guy” and “The
Lost Father.” As a writer, she is praised for her ability to
portray the intricacies of human nature and everyday life.
“I think she is really one of the most talented writers of
her generation. She is an unusually poetic writer,” Schwarz
said.
In keeping with the title, “Our Favorite Writers,”
Simpson said her one favorite would have to be Alice Munro.
“I would love to get her to come. I think she is the best
short story writer,” Simpson said.
Although Munro will not speak this year, Simpson has put
together a fine palette of today’s creative writers. Simpson
thinks Thursday night’s speaker should charm the
audience.
“(Carey) is magical and brilliant. I think he is likely to
win the Nobel Prize in the next 20 years, and he is very soft
spoken and very funny. I think he will be terrific.”