Alexander Masters to discuss and read from award-winning debut book. Tuesday, November 28, 2006

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — Alexander Masters will discuss and read from his award-winning debut book, Stuart: A Life Backwards, on Tuesday, November 28, at 5:00 p.m., in Taylor Hall 203. This event is free and open to the public.

Now a Sunday Times of London paperback bestseller, Stuart: A Life Backwards is both a biography of Stuart Shorter – a self-described knife-wielding alcoholic with a heroin problem, who has spent much of his adult life in prison or living on the streets – as well as a memoir of the author's time as Shorter's social worker and friend. Masters originally met Shorter while he was a Ph.D. candidate at Cambridge.

First published in Britain, Stuart: A Life Backwards won both the Guardian First Book Award and the Hawthornden Prize, and it was short-listed for the Samuel Johnson Prize and the Whitbread Biography Prize. Celebrated author Zadie Smith said, "It's been years since I've been so delighted by a book." It was recently published in the United States to wide acclaim.

The San Francisco Chronicle said that "[Masters] handles the material expertly, weaving together Stuart's story, the story of their relationship, and both men's analyses of the causes and cures of homelessness into a seamless page-turner," and The New York Times called the book "a harrowing and humane portrait of an extraordinary individual — without a shred of sentimentality or cant." Film rights to Masters' book were sold to Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes and HBO/BBC, and the production will be broadcast this spring in the U.S.

This talk is sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Faculty. Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations at Vassar should contact the Office of Campus Activities at (845) 437-5370.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential, liberal arts college founded in 1861.

Individuals with disabilities requiring accommodations or information on accessibility should contact Campus Activities Office at (845) 437-5370. Without sufficient notice, appropriate space and/or assistance may not be available.

Vassar College is a highly selective, coeducational, independent, residential liberal arts college founded in 1861.

This article was posted on Wednesday, November 8th, 2006.