Fred Dillen and Deirdre Bair to Read on February 27

On Tuesday, February 27th, novelist Frederick Dillen and biographer/non-fiction writer Deirdre Bair will read as part of the Ordinary Evening Reading Series.

Frederick G. Dillen is the author of two novels, Hero-which was named the best first novel of its year by the Dictionary of Literary Biography-and Fool. A new novel has been optioned in manuscript by an independent film producer. Fred has won an O.Henry Award and has taught at Harvard and Emerson College. He lives in Cambridge with the playwright and performer Leslie Harrell Dillen. They have two grown daughters and a heartbreakingly old yellow dog with large ears.

Deirdre Bair’s most recent book, Calling it Quits: Late-Life Divorce and Starting Over, has just been published by Random House. She is also the author of four biographies: Samuel Beckett (winner of the National Book Award); Simone de Beauvoir (NY Times "Best Books of the Year"; finalist: Los Angeles Times Book Prize); Anaïs Nin (NY Times "Notable Books of the Year," BBC Arts 4 documentary); and Jung: A Biography (NY Times “Notable Books of the Year,” Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalist, winner of the NAAP Gradiva Award for Best Biography of the Year).

Deirdre has been a literary journalist and tenured university professor with a specialty in comparative literature and culture, and has held fellowships and grants from many prestigious organizations, including the Rockefeller and Guggenheim Foundations. She has also been a visiting professor and writer in residence all over the world, and most recently, at Bennington College. She divides her time between New York and New Haven, Connecticut.