Wally Lamb & Zoë Heller June 17, 2009

The first of four successive Word programs begins with two critically acclaimed novelists reading and sharing insights from their latest works: The Hour I First Believed and The Believers.

Author Wally Lamb is a celebrated writer. His novels She’s Come Undone and I Know This Much Is True, placed him atop The New York Times bestseller’s list twice and were featured titles in Oprah’s Book Club. He is also the editor of the non-fiction anthologies: Couldn’t Keep It to Myself: Testimonies from Our Imprisoned Sisters and I’ll Fly Away, collections of autobiographical essays which evolved from a writing workshop Lamb facilitates at Connecticut’s York Correctional Institute, a maximum-security prison for women. Lamb’s third novel, The Hour I First Believed, released earlier this year by HarperCollins Publishers, explores chaos theory by interfacing several generations of a fictional Connecticut family with nonfictional American events such as the Civil War, the Columbine High School shootings, the Iraq War, and Hurricane Katrina. Entertainment Weekly raved, “[Lamb] has delivered a tour de force, his best yet. Grade A.”

Zoë Heller’s career began with a series of addictively entertaining "girl about town" columns for Britain's Telegraph and Sunday Times. Her wry, witty, and outrageously confessional dispatches turned her into a household name in the UK and inspired a wave of Bridget Jones-style journalism that has never matched Heller's signature brio and artistic flair. Wanting to expand more into the world of literary fiction, Heller published her first extended effort with a darkly comic novel entitled Everything You Know in 2000. Then in 2003, Heller released her sophomore effort Notes on a Scandal, which was an unqualified success. The book was shortlisted for Britain's most prestigious literary award, the Man Booker Prize, and went on to become an acclaimed, award-winning film starring Judi Dench and Cate Blanchett. For her appearance at Central Park SummerStage she will read from her latest novel, The Believers, released in March by HarperCollins Publishers.

Official Website: http://www.summerstage.org