Virtual Event: Ethan Hawke

Harvard Book Store, Politics and Prose, and Books & Books welcome acclaimed writer and four-time Oscar–nominated actor ETHAN HAWKE for a discussion of his latest novel, A Bright Ray of Darkness. He will be joined in conversation by KILEY REID, author of the acclaimed, New York Times–bestselling novel, Such a Fun Age.

Ticketing

All tickets include a hardcover copy of A Bright Ray of Darkness.

Please note: Tickets including signed copies are now sold out.

About A Bright Ray of Darkness

Hawke’s first novel in nearly twenty years is a bracing meditation on fame and celebrity, and the redemptive, healing power of art; a portrait of the ravages of disappointment and divorce; a poignant consideration of the rites of fatherhood and manhood; a novel soaked in rage and sex, longing and despair; and a passionate love letter to the world of theater. A Bright Ray of Darkness showcases Ethan Hawke's gifts as a novelist as never before.

Hawke's narrator is a young man in torment, disgusted with himself after the collapse of his marriage, still half-hoping for a reconciliation that would allow him to forgive himself and move on as he clumsily, and sometimes hilariously, tries to manage the wreckage of his personal life with whiskey and sex. What saves him is theater: in particular, the challenge of performing the role of Hotspur in a production of Henry IV under the leadership of a brilliant director, helmed by one of the most electrifying—and narcissistic—Falstaff's of all time. Searing and raw, A Bright Ray of Darkness is a novel about shame and beauty and faith, and the moral power of art.

Praise for A Bright Ray of Darkness

“Ethan Hawke is a true writer and his duality as an artist is skillfully reflected in A Bright Ray of Darkness. Hawke circles, descends, and crawls into his characters skin. Grimy shadows pass over the footlights, into the bowels of the theatre, where a struggling actor, perhaps mirroring the writer, seeks the vine of redemption, and claws his way into becoming. Bright Ray is a riveting work.” —Patti Smith

“A brilliant insider's account of the joys and terrors of acting, the trials of celebrity, and the secrets of Henry IV.” —Kirkus Reviews