IN-STORE: Live on Flatbush Ave!
Monday, November 7, 7:30 PM ET
A Celebration of the Life and Work of James Purdy
Featuring Michael Snyder, Maria Cecilia Holt, and Looi van Kessel

Award-winning biographer Michael Snyder joins Greenlight for the first time to celebrate the publication of his new book, the first definitive biography of one of the most iconoclastic 20th-century novelists and a recently-rediscovered gay icon. James Purdy penned original and sometimes shocking works about those on the margins of American society, exploring small towns, urban life, failure, alienation, sexuality, and familial relations. Although his critical reputation peaked in the 1960s and he never enjoyed a bestseller, Purdy's queer and edgy voice found a diverse following that includes Tennessee Williams, Langston Hughes, William Carlos Williams, Dorothy Parker, Jonathan Franzen, and many more. Snyder will be joined by a panel of scholars and friends to be announced for a reading, discussion, and celebration of all things Purdy.