Purchase College Presents Acclaimed Writer Porochista Khakpour

Featuring one of today’s most critically acclaimed and popular writers, the program is free and open to the public. It will take place in the Humanities Theater at Purchase College (735 Anderson Hill Road, Purchase, NY) and is a presentation of the Durst Distinguished Lecture Series, which brings leading writers to Westchester.

Porochista Khakpour is the author of two novels and a forthcoming memoir, Sick (June 2018, Harper Collins). Her debut novel, Sons and Other Flammable Objects, was a New York Times “Editor’s Choice” and won the California Book Award. Her second novel, The Last Illusion, was chosen as one of the best books of the year by NPR, Electric Literature, Kirkus, PopMatters, and others.

“Born in Tehran and raised in Los Angeles, Porochista Khakpour is a journalist, essayist, novelist, and now with the upcoming publication of her new book, Sick, a memoirist,” said Mehdi Tavana Okasi, assistant professor of creative writing at Purchase College. “The distinguished author of two highly acclaimed novels and countless essays, book reviews, interviews, and articles, Khakpour doesn't shy away from difficult topics. Her fiction transports us into wonderfully strange worlds and haunted relationships; in her capable hands we face both the exquisite and the grotesque of human nature.”

He adds, “Her third book, Sick, is a memoir of living with late-stage Lyme disease and the challenges of working and living as a disabled person, but it's also about so much more. In unflinchingly honest prose, Khakpour asks us to consider the fragile bonds that tether us to one another and to this world.”

For more information, please visit: https://www.purchase.edu/live/events/9009-a-reading-and-conversation-with-porochista or call 914.251.6550.

The Durst Distinguished Lecture Series and the Roy and Shirley Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature are funded by the Roy and Shirley Durst Distinguished Chair in Literature Endowment. The mission of the Durst programs is to infuse the experience and intellect of leading writers into the Purchase and Westchester communities, while providing diverse opportunities for these writers to interact with students and influence campus life.