UCLA Live Presents Martin Amis and Christopher Hitchens as part of Our Favorite Writers Series, April 20

Martin Amis and Christopher Hitchens visit UCLA Live as the finale of the season’s Our Favorite Writers series in an evening of readings and conversations regarding topics ranging from literature and politics to their abiding literary friendship. This event takes place at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 20, at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus. Acclaimed writer and UCLA professor Mona Simpson hosts the event

LOS ANGELES, CA (PRWEB) April 2, 2004 -– Martin Amis and Christopher Hitchens visit UCLA Live as the finale of the season’s Our Favorite Writers series in an evening of readings and conversations regarding topics ranging from literature and politics to their abiding literary friendship. This event takes place at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, April 20, at Royce Hall on the UCLA campus. Acclaimed writer and UCLA professor Mona Simpson hosts the event. For tickets call 310-825-2101 or visit www.UCLALive.org.

Creator of hypnotically readable novels smoldering with apocalyptic humor and brutal irony, Britain’s Martin Amis is the best-selling author of novels including “Times Arrow,” “London Fields,” “Money,” and “Experience: A Memoir.” Regarded by critics as one of the most influential and innovative voices in contemporary British fiction, Amis is often grouped with his generation’s leading British-based novelists including Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan and Julian Barnes.

“In adolescence, everybody feels the impulse to write–poems, plays, stories. Writers are simply the people who stick with it. Of course, as you continue you are bolstered by craft and technique–and routine. But what we loosely call ‘inspiration’ remains as mysterious as that first adolescent impulse,” states Amis.

Amis was born in Oxford, England in 1949. The son of writer Kinglsey Amis, he was educated in schools in Britain, Spain and the United States. He is a regular contributor to numerous newspapers, magazines and journals including the Sunday Times, The Observer, the Times Literary Supplement and The New York Times. He was awarded an honorary LittD (Doctor of Literature) by the University of East Anglia in 2000. Amis currently lives in London.

Amis will be joined by friend Christopher Hitchens, contributing editor for The Atlantic Monthly and Vanity Fair, whose recent biography “Why Orwell Matters” is a brilliant exhumation of a misunderstood hero. Hitchens assesses the life, achievements and myth of the great political writer George Orwell and makes clear why Orwell matters today and long into the 21st century.

The New York Observer states, “In possession of, [and possessed by, the spirit of George Orwell … One would say that Orwell is the secret weapon, the smart bomb with which … Mr. Hitchens [has achieved preeminence over [his polemical opponents.”

Hitchens has long regarded Orwell as a mentor and model and his book explores Orwell’s perspectives ranging from American culture to fascism to feminism. The result is a precise convergence of two kindred spirits.

Hitchens was born in Portsmouth, England in 1949 and received degrees in philosophy, politics and economics from Balliol College in 1970. He is a professor of Liberal Studies at the New School in New York City as well as a popular columnist for Vanity Fair. Hitchens has been the Washington editor of Harper’s and a book critic for Newsday. He regularly contributes to such publications as Granta, The London Review of Books, Vogue, New Left Review, Dissent and the Times Literary Supplement. Among his books, are “Letters to a Young Contrarian,” “The Trial of Henry Kissinger,” and “For the Sake of Argument: Essays and Minority Reports.” Hitchens currently lives in Washington D.C.
   
Mona Simpson is the author of four books, “Off Keck Road,” “A Regular Guy,” “The Lost Father” and “Anywhere But Here.” She is also the recipient of several awards, including the Lila Wallace Reader’s Digest Prize, the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Giles Whiting Foundation award. Simpson is a professor in the UCLA English Department.

Support for this series is provided by Merle and Gerald Measer, Marjorie Fasman, and Astrid and Howard Preston.

Press images are available at:
http://files.performingarts.ucla.edu/0304images/hitchensamis/

The series is hosted by acclaimed writer and UCLA professor Mona Simpson, and curated by the UCLA English Department with The Atlantic Monthly.

Tickets for Martin Amis and Christopher Hitchens are available for $35, $25 and $20 at the UCLA Central Ticket Office at the southwest corner of the James West Alumni Center, online at www.UCLALive.org and at all Ticketmaster outlets. UCLA students may purchase tickets in advance for $15. Student rush tickets at the same price are offered to all students with a valid i.d. one hour prior to show time. For more information or to charge by phone, call 310-825-2101.

UCLA Live
An internationally acclaimed producer and presenter of music, dance, theater, and spoken word, UCLA Live brings hundreds of outstanding and provocative artists to Los Angeles each year. Committed to supporting the development of new work, UCLA Live has presented both major and emerging artists including Pina Bausch, Kronos Quartet, Philip Glass, Bill T. Jones and Robert Wilson. Lectures, residencies, and extensive outreach programs expand the impact of its unparalleled performances that include a lively mix of distinguished masters and innovators from around the world.

Scalla Sheen (ssheen@arts.ucla.edu)                                                       310-825-5202                           
Karen Nelson (krnelson@arts.ucla.edu)
310-794-4044
Nicole Cavazos (ncavazos@arts.ucla.edu)
310-206-5305

Presented by UCLA Live, the UCLA English Department, and The Atlantic Monthly.