Guardian Book Club: Michael Chabon

Meet one of America's finest modern writers

Michael Chabon’s third novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay put its author on the literary map when it won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 2001. It’s a novel of impressive breadth and scope that celebrates the golden age of the adventure comic book, and beautifully evokes the thriving popular culture of New York during the late 1930s and early 50s; an era of swing music, pulp novels and the genius of Orson Welles. When 18-year-old Josef Kavalier flees his Jewish home in Nazi-occupied Prague for New York, he and his cousin Sam form a business partnership by dreaming up a comic strip featuring a Nazi-hating superhero. While the two cousins eventually make their fortune, Josef is haunted by the urgent and very real need to liberate his family from the clutches of Hitler and the Third Reich.

Chabon talks to Book Club host John Mullan about his much-loved novel, an exquisitely penned, fast paced adventure that treads a heart-racing tight-rope between high comedy and bitter tragedy, while delving into those universal themes of identity and loss. Michael Chabon’s other books include The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, Wonder Boys, The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, Gentlemen of the Road and Telegraph Avenue – the first three of which have been adapted for the big screen.
This event is followed by a book signing.

Enjoy food and drink purchased from the Knowledge Centre Bar from 18.00 and after the event until the Bar closes at 22.00.

In association with Guardian Live