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 Chuck Palahniuk, the bestselling author of Fight Club and Choke, will take the stage on Thursday, November 3, at 7:30 pm in the celebrated author series Writers on a New England Stage. The evening is presented by The Music Hall and New Hampshire Public Radio in collaboration with Yankee Magazine and RiverRun Bookstore. The “bad boy” of fiction will present his new novel, DAMNED, a story of adolescence, friendship, and….HELL! (Continued below)
Following his lively interactive chat with the audience, Mr. Palahniuk will be interviewed by Virginia Prescott, host of New Hampshire Public Radio’s “Word of Mouth.”
About Palahniuk’s novel, DAMNED
Adolescence is hell? You have no idea... Welcome to the Inferno, by way of The Breakfast Club, from the mind of American fiction's brilliant troublemaker, Chuck Palahniuk, "Death, like life, is what you make of it." So says Madison, the whip-tongued 11 year-old narrator of DAMNED, Chuck Palahniuk's subversive homage to the young adult genre. The daughter of two narcisstic film stars, Madison is abandoned at her Swiss boarding school over Christmas while her parents are off touting their new projects and adopting more orphans. She dies over the holiday of a marijuana overdose - and the next thing she knows, she's in Hell. This is the afterlife as only Chuck Palahniuk could imagine it: a twisted Inferno inspired by both the most extreme and mundane of human evils, where The English Patient plays on repeat…
In an effort to reason her way through her pain, she begins confiding in Satan -- her new overlord who's mysteriously everywhere and nowhere at once. For Madison, though, a more immediate source of comfort lies in the motley crew of young sinners she meets during her first days in Hell. It's almost too good to be a true: a cheerleader, a jock, a nerd, and a delinquent, united by fate. For the first time, Madison witnesses rare acts of kindness and courage, and allows herself to feel the vulnerability of friendship. With the help of Archer, Babette, Leonard, and Patterson, she learns to navigate Hell.
CHUCK PALAHNIUK, the official bio
Chuck Palahniuk is the critically acclaimed author of Fight Club (made into a film by David Fincher) and Choke (also made into a movie, and featured on the New York Times Bestseller List). Known as the “bad-boy” of fiction, Chuck has gained status as one of the most disturbing, witty, and creative authors of our time. He has also written Survivor,Invisible Monsters, Lullaby¸ and Haunted, which features an infamous short story that has reportedly made nearly seventy people faint at readings! Chuck currently lives in the Pacific Northwest.
CHUCK PALAHNIUK, the real story
A LITERARY ROCK STAR: The Cult of Chuck is huge and still growing. He has over 300,000 Facebook fans and over 300,000 followers on Twitter. His readings hum with rock concert energy - with groupies that come in costume and bring props - and have literally spilled over, stopped traffic, required EMS assistance and draw hundreds of people.
· FROM TRUCKS TO MAJOR MOTION PICTURES: Chuck worked at Freightliner, a truck manufacturing company, for 13 years on the assembly line and ended up writing their training manual. Then he hit the big time with Fight Club, which was published in 1996 and celebrates its 15th anniversary this year. Fight Club was made into a major motion picture starring Brad Pitt, Edward Norton and Helena Bonham-Carter. A subsequent book Choke was also made into a movie and starred Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston and Joel Grey. All of his novels have been optioned for film.
HE’S A MEGA-BESTSELLING AUTHOR: More than 5 million copies of his books are currently in print. DAMNED is Chuck’s 12th novel. Chuck is the author of the bestselling Fight Club, Survivor; Invisible Monsters; Choke, Lullaby; Diary; Haunted; Rant; Snuff, Pygmy, and Tell-All, as well as his non-fiction collection Stranger Than Fiction andFugitives and Refugees, part of the Crown Journeys series.
Book Clubs and High School Guests of The Music Hall
At each Writers event, The Music Hall hosts local high school students selected by their teachers, who come free of charge to the event and get an opportunity to meet the author. In the season ahead, several authors will hold a “master class” with selected students on the day of their event, as part of The Music Hall’s “Explore and Learn” program. The Music Hall welcomes local book clubs attending on the night to take part in a drawing to be guests at a private backstage book signing/reception with the featured writer. For more information on how to join theWriters on a New England Stage book club list and drawing, contact associate producer Margaret Talcott.
Tickets and Signed Books
Tickets to Writers on a New England Stage: Chuck Palahniuk are $13 ($11 for members of The Music Hall), available through The Music Hall Box Office, located at 28 Chestnut Street, Portsmouth, over the phone at 603-436-2400 or online at www.themusichall.org. Signed copies of DAMNED (hardback edition) are available on the evening at The Music Hall or in the days following at RiverRun Bookstore through the purchase of a book vouchers. Books are $22.45 when reserved in advance with voucher purchase through The Music Hall box office and at RiverRun Bookstore at 20 Congress Street in downtown Portsmouth. Signed books can be purchased on the evening for the full retail price of $24.95. The producers ask for patrons’ support of this vibrant series through the purchase of books through The Music Hall and/or RiverRun Bookstore.
Praise for the author and his work
“To read a Chuck Palahniuk novel means being shocked, enlightened, disturbed, buoyed, horrified, delighted and perplexed – sometimes on a single page.” -- Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
“Twisted? Come on, it’s Palahniuk. Impossible to put down? Same answer.”-- Men’s Journal
“Palahniuk is a writer of remarkable talent, willing to look unflinchingly at despairing lives and their often-warped quest for even momentary redemption.” -- Boston Globe
“Few contemporary writers mix the outrageous and the hilarious with greater zest…Palahniuk’s splenetic, anarchic glee makes him a worthy heir to Ken Kesey.” -- Newsday
About the 2011-2012 Writers on a New England Stage series
Writers on a New England Stage was created by executive producer Patricia Lynch, also executive director of The Music Hall, and is presented in partnership with New Hampshire Public Radio and in collaboration with Yankee Magazine and Portsmouth’s independent RiverRun Bookstore. Since 2005, the series has spotlighted a broad range of celebrated authors including Mitch Albom, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Dan Brown, Isabel Allende, Stephen King, Ann Patchett, E.L. Doctorow, Anita Madeleine Albright, the late John Updike, Wally Lamb, Jodi Picoult, David McCullough, and Cokie Roberts, among many others.
Next up in the series Writers on a New England Stage is Chris Matthews, who will take the stage to discuss his new biography, JACK KENNEDY: Elusive Hero, on Friday, December 2 at 7:30pm. Each author’s presentation is followed by an interview with Virginia Prescott, host of New Hampshire Public Radio’s “Word of Mouth.” Live music is performed by the award-winning house band Dreadnaught. The live shows are rebroadcast on New Hampshire Public Radio’s noontime program “Word of Mouth.”
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