Dybek's latest book earns high praise
Nov. 26, 2003
KALAMAZOO--Early reviews of "I Sailed With Magellan," the latest work by award-winning author Stuart Dybek, refer to the book as "beautifully written" and "a remarkable novel."
Dybek, a professor of English at Western Michigan University, gave a reading and signed copies of "I Sailed With Magellan" this past week in the Edwin and Mary Meader Rare Book Room of Waldo Library. Published this month by Farrar, Straus and Giroux, "I Sailed With Magellan" chronicles in 11 stories the Chicago escapades of Perry Katzek.
"A powerful, cumulative portrait," says Publisher's Weekly. "These beautifully written stories teem with aching recollections. They are lyrical odes to wasted lives, youthful desires, vanishing innocence and the transformative power of memory." In Library Journal, the reviewer raves, "a remarkable novel. Strongly recommended for all fiction collections."
Dybek is the author of two collections of short fiction, "The Coast of Chicago" and "Childhood and Other Neighborhoods," as well as a volume of poetry, "Brass Knuckles." His writing has been frequently anthologized and has appeared in numerous periodicals, including The New Yorker, The Atlantic Monthly, Harper's and Poetry. Among the many honors he has received for his work are a PEN/Bernard Malamud Prize, a Whiting Writer's Award, several O. Henry Prizes, and a Pushcart Prize. His next work, a collection of poems titled "Streets in Their Own Ink," is slated to be published next year.
"I Sailed With Magellan" retails for $25.50 and is available through all major bookstores.
Media contact: Jessica English, 269 387-8400, jessica.english@wmich.edu