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The Golden Gate is returning to Stanford

The Golden Gate, Vikram Seth's 1986 novel-in-verse, was born among Stanford's sandstone buildings and palm trees. Now the Bay Area will have a chance to hear highlights of composer Conrad Cummings' opera of the novel. A multimedia presentation in the Studio at the new Bing Concert Hall at 8 p.m. Thursday, May 30, will include readings of Seth's verse by current Stegner Fellows and Stanford students, a video of a 2010 staged workshop of the opera at Lincoln Center and a discussion with Cummings. John Henry Davis, who directed the Lincoln Center workshop production, is also directing the Stanford program. Seth will provide a video welcome. Free tickets are sold out, but some seats may become available at 7:45 p.m. on the night of the performance on May 30.

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Adam Johnson wins Pulitzer Prize in Fiction for 2013

"For distinguished fiction by an American author... Awarded to The Orphan Master's Son by Adam Johnson (Random House), an exquisitely crafted novel that carries the reader on an adventuresome journey into the depths of totalitarian North Korea and into the most intimate spaces of the human heart. An epic novel and a thrilling literary discovery, The Orphan Master's Son follows a young man's journey through the icy waters, dark tunnels, and eerie spy chambers of the world's most mysterious dictatorship, North Korea. Part breathless thriller, part story of innocence lost, part story of romantic love, The Orphan Master's Son is also a riveting portrait of a world heretofore hidden from view: a North Korea rife with hunger, corruption, and casual cruelty but also camaraderie, stolen moments of beauty, and love. A towering literary achievement, The Orphan Master's Son ushers Adam Johnson into the small group of today's greatest writers."

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