In this Friends and Foundation fundraiser, The New York Times columnist discusses the 20th anniversary edition of her novel "The Joy of Funerals." Tickets are $30; $75 with a copy of the book.
From the Publisher
"The Joy of Funerals" is a peek at the inner world of those left behind. From the very first page, readers are drawn into the strange, often humorous world where nine women grapple with sex, power, love and death. Meet a widow who lusts ... a daughter who aches ... a lover who obsesse s... a shopaholic who hunger ... a daredevil who desires ... a single woman who longs ... an outsider who hopes ... an artist who craves ... and a funeral-junkie who needs. These are the women who inhabit the eerily honest, often heartbreaking world Alix Strauss has created in" The Joy of Funerals."
Throughout this powerful and provocative collection, these characters explore the basic need for human connection while seeking to understand themselves better. It is the 'where do I belong' and the 'how do I fit in' that these sad, bright and amazingly strong women seek to answer.
Begun as an essay in the Lives column of The New York Times magazine, "The Joy of Funeral"s is written with raw wit, mordant humor and a uniquely penetrating voice as Strauss turns the spotlight on the unattractive subjects of loss, grief and loneliness.
About the Author
Alix Strauss is a trend, culture and lifestyle journalist; an award-winning, four-time published author; speaker; and frequent contributor to The New York Times.
Her books include: "The Joy of Funerals," "Based Upon Availability," and "Death Becomes Them: Unearthing the Suicides of the Brilliant, the Famous and the Notorious." She is also the editor of "Have I Got a Guy for You", an anthology of mother-coordinated dating horror stories. Her work has been optioned for several TV and film projects.
"The Joy of Funerals" is an Ingram Award winner and was named Best Debut Novel by The New York Resident. Alix was the inaugural “First Chapters” pick, Cosmopolitan Magazine’s new launchpad of fiction excerpts, giving readers exclusive sneak peeks of gripping new work. Her essays and short fiction have appeared in the Primavera Literary Journal, Hampton Shorts Literary Journal, The Idaho Review, Quality Women's Fiction, The Blue Moon Café III, Sex, Drugs & Gefilte Fish: The Heeb Storytelling Collection and A Kudzu Christmas. Her short story, “Shrinking Away," won the David Dornstein Creative Writing Award. She is the recipient of several awards and fellowships from programs such as the Wesleyan Writers Conference, the Skidmore College Writerʼs Institute, the Sarah Lawrence Summer Program, and the Squaw Valleyʼs Screenwritersʼ Summer Program.
