46 The Literary Cabaret

Anthony Doerr wrote the novel, About Grace. He is also the author of a collection of short stories, The Shell Collector and a memoir, Four Seasons in Rome. Among his many awards are three O. Henry Prizes, the Barnes & Noble Discover Prize, the Rome Prize, and the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award. His book reviews have appeared in The New York Times and Der Spiegel and his novella, Afterworld was included in the spring edition of McSweeney’s Quarterly. Read more

Paolo Giordano has the distinction of being the youngest-ever winner of Italy’s prestigious literary award, the Premio Strega. This accomplishment seems greater, considering it was for his debut novel, The Solitude of Prime Numbers.The book has now been published in more than 38 countries. Just 28 years old, Giordano is a professional physicist and has a PhD in particle physics. He lives in Italy.

Paolo Giordano’s appearance is made possible by the Istituto Italiano di Cultura. Read more

Yiyun Li is the author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and The Vagrants. A native of Beijing and a graduate of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, she is the recipient of the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, the Hemingway Foundation/pen Award, the Whiting Writers’ Award, and the Guardian First Book Award. In 2007, Granta named her one of the best American novelists under 35, and she was recently included on The New Yorker’s list of the Top 20 authors under 40. Read more