Wallace Shawn: Essays

The author, Wallace Shawn, was recently a guest on the WNYC Radio program, Talk to Me. The program's summary of the show reads as the following: If the meek are going to inherit the earth, then Wally Shawn will be in the vanguard. The diffident playwright and essayist, known for such works as "My Dinner with Andre," "Aunt Dan and Lemon," and "The Designated Mourner," presented readings of a wide range of his essays and dramas last month at the CUNY Graduate Center. Each piece of his work offered a passionate view of a world corroded by power, but redeemable through art. The Obie-Award winner was joined by a group of literary and theatrical friends who voiced his work, including writers Fran Lebowitz, Peter Carey and Deborah Eisenberg; poet Mark Strand; and actors Mary-Louise Parker, Julianne Moore, Bob Balaban and Josh Hamilton. Shawn's most recent play, "Grasses of a Thousand Colors," premiered in London in 2009. His first book of nonfiction, "Essays," was also published last year. See the webpage for this show here. See the podcast for the show just below.



Wallace Shawn also wrote: Grasses of a Thousand Colors, The Fever (Evergreen original), Our Late Night and A Thought in Three Parts: Two Plays, and Four Plays: A Thought in Three Parts, Marie and Bruce, Aunt Dan and Lemon, the Fever.