Writers Bloc Presents Emma Donoghue and David Ulin

Please note the venue has changed to Lumiere Music Hall. 9036 Wilshire Blvd, Beverly Hills, CA 90211.

Emma Donoghue knows how to get us into a room and keep us there. For as long as it takes. We want to go outside. But depending on the setting, sometimes we can, sometimes we can't. And as we race through her novels, we know it's a race against time.

The author of one of the most talked-about books in years, Room, Emma Donoghue does contemporary and historical fiction with suspense to spare. In her latest novel, The Paris Express, Donoghue uses a 1895 train crash at Montparnasse to explore fin-de-ciecle French society, its beauty and its tragedies set in a few railroad cars. A train is, after all, a cross section of random people thrown together in a confined space.

Donoghue gives us slices of social strata from upper to lower, political (anarchy!) and arts movements (movies!), men's and women's continual social challenges, love and longing, the greatness and indignities of industrialization, and so much more. Woven throughout with historical figures from 19th century Paris life, The Paris Express leaves the reader considering the poignancy of how we spend our time on a journey when so many outside factors spell life or death.

We love this novel.

David L. Ulin is the author or editor of twenty books, including the novel, Thirteen Question Method, and Sidewalking: Coming to Terms with Los Angeles, shortlisted for the PEN/Diamonstein-Spielvogel Award for the Art of the Essay. The recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Lannan Foundation, and Ucross Foundation, as well as a COLA Individual Master Artist Grant from the City of Los Angeles, he is a Professor of English at the University of Southern California, where he co-directs the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities and edits the journal Air/Light.

Writers Bloc thanks the Consulate General of Ireland for their gracious support.

Limited parking onsite. We recommend rideshares and carpooling. Please allow time to find parking.

Did you know that you can make a fully tax-deductible donation?

As a nonprofit organization, Writers Bloc Presents relies on support from people like you. Help us to remain a strong community as we continue to celebrate literature by authors we love, and explore critical contemporary issues. Please donate here.

No refunds or exchanges on tickets or books. Books must be picked up on the night of the program.

Emma Donoghue Photo: Woodgate Photography