Author Event: John Kessel

Page 158 Books is thrilled to welcome author John Kessel to celebrate the release of his book, The Presidential Papers-out Oct. 29th.

Part of The PM Press Outspoken Authors Series, The Presidential Papers contains four previously published stories plus an original short play, an essay called "Imagining the Human Future: Up, Down, or Sideways" and a new interview with the author.

Mixing satire, farce, and dystopia, the stories in John Kessel's The Presidential Papers deconstruct the character and politics of five imagined presidents, some of whom bear striking resemblance to individuals who have occupied the Oval Office over the last thirty years.

John Kessel is the author of the novels Pride and Prometheus, The Moon and the Other, Good News from Outer Space, Corrupting Dr. Nice, and in collaboration with James Patrick Kelly, Freedom Beach. Kessel's stories have twice received the Nebula Award given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, in addition to the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award, the Locus Poll, the James Tiptree Jr. Award. Kessel holds a B.A. in Physics and English and a Ph.D. in American Literature. He helped found and served as the first director of the MFA program in creative writing at North Carolina State University, where he has taught since 1982. He lives and works in Raleigh, NC with his wife, the author Therese Anne Fowler.