Although this event has passed, you can still buy a digital pass to watch the recording through Tuesday, April 26 at 7:30 p.m. (PT).
The Overstory, Powers’ sweeping, impassioned paean to the natural world, was a move to unite a cast of iconoclastic activists and resisters, roots to crown. His forthcoming novel, Bewilderment, is a deeply felt study into attachment, loss, and hope: of a grieving father, an extraordinary yet troubled son, and an imperiled planet, each of which is inextricably linked with the others.
All Literary Arts Series, Create Your Own Series, and Super SAL subscribers (except Student/25 & Under and complimentary subscriptions) receive Powers’ forthcoming book, Bewilderment, mailed to the subscriber’s address.
Richard Powers is the author of thirteen novels; his works explore the effects of modern science and technology on the health and wellbeing of the world. A MacArthur Fellow, Powers received the National Book Award for his novel, The Echo Maker. His most recent book, The Overstory, won the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction.
His new novel, Bewilderment, follows the story of astrobiologist Theo Byrne, who searches for life throughout the cosmos while single-handedly raising his unusual nine-year-old, Robin, following the death of his wife. As his son grows more troubled, Theo learns of an experimental treatment that could bolster Robin’s emotional control by training the boy on the recorded patterns of his mother’s brain—an experiment whose ultimate impacts are unknown.
With its soaring descriptions of the natural world, its tantalizing vision of life beyond, and its account of a father and son’s ferocious love, Bewilderment marks Richard Powers’ most intimate and moving novel. At its heart lies the question: how can we tell our children the truth about this beautiful, imperiled planet?
