Each week, we'll feature an especially interesting event in the neighborhood based on the event submissions we get, and what we hear about while we're out on the beat. If you want to be considered for next week, please submit your event here.
City Arts & Lectures has been hosting lectures and events for over 30 years, but Wednesday's event will be a first. Authors Geoff Dyer and Pico Iyer will team up for a conversation about their work—but they'll also partake in a ping-pong competition on stage during the event.
English writer Geoff Dyer is the author of four novels, including Jeff in Venice, Death in Varanasi. He's also written personal memoirs, such as Out Of Sheer Rage and Yoga For People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It.
His most recent book, White Sands, takes the reader on passages and pilgrimages around the world, in pursuit of the meaning of life. "What is the point of anything, really? That’s the basis for much, maybe most, of the comedy in this world. And that’s the basis for the singularly entertaining oeuvre of the writer Geoff Dyer, who takes a headlong interest in things — ideas, places, works of art — only to fall back on his default position: prone, and despairing," wrote the Chronicle about the book.
Paired with Dyer on stage at the Nourse will be author and essayist Iyer, who is visiting from his home in Japan. The former Harvard professor covered world affairs for Time, and has written eight books of nonfiction and two novels.
Iyer's most recent book, The Art of Stillness, touches on a similar theme as Dyer's White Sands—the pursuit of spiritual answers. But whereas Dyer chose to hunt for this answer through his travels, Iyer has opted to look for it in the art of being still.
The duo will be speaking—and playing ping pong—at the Nourse Theater this Wednesday, starting at 7:30pm. (If you get the itch to play yourself after watching them, consider heading over to SoMa's new ping-pong bar for a game after the talk.)
If discussions of spirituality over a game of ping pong isn't your thing, here are a few more events taking place around the neighborhood this week:
To check out more local events around the city, visit hoodline.com/events.
