Enjoy an Evening with "Circe" Author Madeline Miller April 11
“When I was born, the name for what I was did not exist. They called me nymph, assuming I would be like my mother and aunts and thousand cousins. Least of the lesser goddesses, our powers were so modest they could scarcely ensure our eternities. We spoke to fish and nurtured flowers, coaxed drops from the clouds or salt from the waves. That word, nymph, paced out the length and breadth of our futures. In our language, it means not just goddess, but bride…”
So begins Madeline Miller’s modern take on a mythological tale in her book “Circe.” It’s not the mythology from grade school, but an easy, grown-up read that touches on female strength, independence and palace intrigue.
“Circe” is the Library’s One Read selected title that we’ve been showcasing since March. Now you have a chance to meet and hear this New York Times best-selling author. Miller will be at the Library Center at 7 p.m. on Thursday, April 11.
We’ll get to know the author during a relaxed interview format staged on the main floor of the Library Center. William Garvin, director of Drury University’s F. W. Olin Library, will chat with Miller onstage and take audience questions. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
Madeline Miller grew up in New York City and Philadelphia, near where she lives now. At Brown University she earned her Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in Classics. She has taught and tutored Latin, Greek and Shakespeare to high school students for the past 20 years. Miller has also studied at the University of Chicago’s Committee on Social Thought, and in the Dramaturgy Department at Yale School of Drama, where she focused on the adaptation of classical texts to modern forms. “The Song of Achilles,” her first novel, was also a New York Times Bestseller.
The annual One Read encourages everyone to read and discuss the book. It concludes after Miller’s visit, but you can always check out the book at thelibrary.org/catalog and see why “Circe” is called “a triumph of storytelling” and “a celebration of indomitable female strength in a man's world.”
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