Arts & Sciences Events
Brian Castleberry - The Californians
Access & Features
- Free food
- Open to the public
Brian Castleberry
Friday, March 21, 5:00 PM, Tucker Theater, Free Reception & Book Sale to Follow
The Californians by Brian Castleberry is a sweeping, ambitious novel spanning a century. In 2024, Tobey Harlan, a down-on-his-luck waiter, steals three paintings by famed artist Di Stiegl, hoping to sell them and start anew after losing everything in a wildfire. A century earlier, Klaus Aaronsohn reinvents himself as Klaus von Stiegl, a German-Jewish immigrant turned silent film director. Meanwhile, Di Stiegl, Klaus’s granddaughter, rises as an artist in gritty 1980s NYC. As America yields the presidency to a Hollywood cowboy, Diane will reflect America’s most urgent and hypocritical years back to itself, uneasily finding critical adoration as well as great fame and wealth.
Nuanced and textured, gloriously funny, a critical portrait of the collective American consciousness that has brought us to today, The Californians showcases Brian Castleberry as an inventive, stylish storyteller and a sharp observer of the human condition.
ABOUT BRIAN CASTLEBERRY
Brian Castleberry’s first novel, Nine Shiny Objects, was a New York Times Editor’s Choice selection and was longlisted for the PEN/Faulkner Award. His other work has been published in the Southern Review, Narrative, LitHub, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and elsewhere. He is an Associate Professor of English at William & Mary.
Sponsored by: Creative Writing Program