Tom Perrotta @ NYS Writers Institute
Well, today, Tom Perrotta will be visiting the New York State Writers Institute in sunny Albany. Perrotta's new novel, The Leftovers, begins with a Rapture-like event called the Sudden Departure. But it's not the Rapture that so many thought it would be. Many Christians "couldn't help noticing that many of the people who'd disappeared on October 14th--Hindus and Buddhist and Muslims and Jews and atheists and animists and homosexuals and Eskimos and Mormons and Zoroastrians, whatever the heck they were--hadn't accepted Jesus Christ as their personal savior."
Offering his own suburban, satirical take on post-apocalyptic literature (The Left Behind series for one), Perrotta creates a cast of recognizable small town characters who struggle to forge new connections, save old relationships, find meaning in their post-Sudden Departure world, and come to terms with their "leftover memories."
Here's the link to NYSWI's profile on Perrotta.
Of course, you may know Perrotta from Little Children, Election, or The Abstinence Teacher. (Has anyone out there read The Wishbones? If so, I want to talk to you.) Word is that The Leftovers is being developed (adapted by Perrotta) as a series for HBO (See the LA Times piece).
 As always, the Institute will host a seminar at 4:15 and a reading at 8:00 - both in Assembly Hall in the Campus Center at the University at Albany. Should be a good time. Hope to see you there.
