Arts & Entertainment
To Do in Westwood: An Evening with J. Courtney Sullivan
The author of "Saints for all Occasions" will speak at the Westwood Public Library on September 11 at 7pm.
Author J. Courtney Sullivan will speak at the main branch of the Westwood Public Library on September 11, 2018 at 7pm. Her focus will be on her newest book that came out in May 2018, Saints for All Occasions. She will both read from the book and then answer questions. This event is sponsored by Friends of the Westwood Public Library.
The Brooklyn-based Smith College alumna has produced a sizeable body of work since Commencement debuted in 2009, including Maine and The Engagements. Saints for All Occasions is her latest, and I had the good fortune to have her publisher send me a copy of the book. The only other book of hers which I have read is Commencement—I actually graduated from Smith a few years after her, so I heard a lot of buzz about Commencement before I read it. I found Saint for All Occasions to be well-written, and full of places that Westwoodians would recognize such as Dorchester and Hull. However, it feels like a formulaic relative to Sullivan’s other works, full of nonlinear narrative and kinship like the others.
At “An Evening with J. Courtney Sullivan,” copies of Saints for All Occasions will be for sale through Haley Booksellers and be able to be signed. No tickets are required, but arriving early is advised.