Joanna Scott is a highly acclaimed award-winning novelist, short story writer, and the Roswell Smith Burrows Professor of English at the University of Rochester. Her breakthrough novel, Arrogance, a beautiful literary portrait of the Austrian painter Egon Schiele, earned her a PEN-Faulkner nomination. Her novel, The Manikin, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and hailed as “sensitive and beautifully crafted” (The Washington Post Book World). A prolific writer of ten novels and two short story collections, Scott has been a recipient of both MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships as well as a Lannan Literary Award. In her newest collection of stories, Excuse Me While I Disappear (Little, Brown, April 2021), Scott shines her lyrical mastery and “incandescent imagination” (Publishers Weekly) on a topic that’s both timeless and timely: the universal struggle to connect. In her lectures, Scott delves into her writing process, how she harnesses the power of imagination on the page, and the themes she explores throughout her collection of works.

Excuse Me While I Disappear

Scott’s sparkling new collection of short stories masterfully portrays the human experience: trying to connect with the world, exploring how those connections look and feel in the moment and what they mean after we are long gone. In this illuminating and thought-provoking talk, in a time when we’re all struggling to find connection, Scott delves into the genesis of her stories while interweaving excerpts from her latest book.

An Evening with Joanna Scott

During an intimate lecture or moderated Q&A, Scott discusses her prestigious writing career that has spanned two decades, sharing moments of wit and inspiration, and providing her trademark commentary on literature and culture. Fans of Scott’s novels and short stories will relish in a behind-the-scenes look from the author herself on her most memorable moments and will come away with a deeper understanding of her award-winning and highly acclaimed body of work.

The Art and Craft of Pretending

In this talk, Scott guides audiences on an exploration into the impact of imaginative writing and the surprising discoveries learned through reading works of fiction. A master of blending biography and fiction in a way that’s uniquely her own, Scott discusses the interplay between these styles and how they’ve inspired her own writing.