Award-winning author Rachel Kushner led a seminar and story-reading sponsored by UCI Illuminations, the Department of English, and the Department of Criminology, Law, and Society on Oct. 27. Kushner read a condensed version of her story “A King Alone,” which was published in The New Yorker earlier this year.
Following the reading, Kushner did a short Q&A with audience members where she was able to answer questions about her writing process. One question that came up was whether Kunsher takes inspiration from poetry when she writes.
“I started out writing poetry, but I think many writers do maybe when they’re younger,” Kushner said. “I think everyone has that moment, [everyone] who later becomes the writer of seeing that language has shortcuts and loopholes in it. Poetry is kind of the beginning of that.”
Graduate English student Olivia Rall, attended the event and described it as “mesmerizing.” Rall was exposed to some of Kushner’s work prior to the event.
“I thought it was wonderful. I was totally absorbed,” she said. “[Kushner has] a unique perspective on the world and I think I’m just interested in whatever she has to say about almost anything.”
Rall credited her initial interest in Kushner’s work to reading her novel “The Mars Room.” The 2018 book is about a resident from the Sunset District in San Francisco going to prison. Kushner briefly spoke about the book at the end of the event.
“It’s just specific to what I experienced,” she said. “I sort of felt like if I don’t write this book that’s about this 20-square block of the city and the kids who grew up there and what it felt like for so many of them, then it just won’t be in a book.”
Frank Wilderson III, Chancellor’s Professor of African American Studies at UCI, also attended the event and asked Kushner multiple questions. Wilderson stated that there are a variety of reasons that he enjoys Kushner’s work.
“She writes about periods that I’m interested in, for example, the Cuban Revolution,” Wilderson said. “We went to the same school at different times, and I found the work to be compelling.”
Wilderson has written multiple books himself and said that Kushner’s ability to write short stories along with full-length novels is “remarkable.”
“She was able to move within scenes and out of scenes and point of view and sometimes full episodes that served only two sentences, and you didn’t feel cheated,” Wilderson said. “It helps me as a fiction writer to read her work.”
Laiyla Santillan is a Campus News Intern for the fall 2022 quarter. She can be reached at laiylas@uci.edu.
