HILTON ALS, the English Department’s Distinguished Visiting Writer for 2009–2010,

is the author of The Women, a meditation on gender, race, personal identity, and the

biographical subject. A staff writer at The New Yorker since 1996 and a recipient of the

George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, Als also has edited and contributed

to numerous books and museum catalogues. Richard Pryor: A Novel is forthcoming

from Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Event organized by Lisa Cohen