Author of “The Friend” opens series
Sigrid Nunez’s eighth book, “The Friend,” won the National Book Award last year, and the recognition has meant a far busier schedule.
The Manhattan-based writer is writing a new novel and a short story, “The Plan,” appears next month in an anthology called “The Best Short Stories of 2019.”
On Monday, Ms. Nunez, 68, opens Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures’ Ten Evenings series at 7:30 p.m. in Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland.
“The Friend” is a spare, immersive novel about a woman who
inherits a Great Dane from her longtime friend, who commits suicide. Filled with witty jabs at the literary and publishing worlds, it’s also a funny, insightful meditation on the non-judgmental companionship that dogs give so generously to human beings.
As a literature student in New York City, Ms. Nunez worked with the late Robert Silvers, the brilliant, indefatigable editor, at The New York Review of Books.
“Robert Silvers used to work almost around the clock. Sometimes he would even sleep in the office. He needed three shifts of assistants,” Ms. Nunez said in a telephone interview.
“We were strictly secretaries. We were not allowed to touch the manuscripts except to take corrections over the phone from the author,” Ms. Nunez recalled. Silvers was intimidating. “I really have to admit I was terrified of Bob. He was so much larger than life. He was such a phenomenon. I had never known anyone to work so hard when they didn’t have to,” she said.
“You would listen to him on the phone talking to writers. I couldn’t believe how modest this man was.”
Ms. Nunez teaches graduate students at Boston University and The New School. The author said it’s a blessing that the National Book Award came later in her career.
“When you get an award like that with a debut novel, that could knock you off your perch just by putting a certain kind of pressure on you,” she said.
“The Friend” is being translated into other languages and foreign publishers are eager to translate her earlier novels, too.
Tickets are $10 for students, $15-$35 general admission. The Carnegie Music hall box office, 4400 Forbes Ave., opens Monday at 6:30 p.m. Information: pittsburghlectures.org.