Uploaded June 2024 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
In conversation with Howard A. Rodman, Professor of Screenwriting, USC School of Cinematic Arts
The work of British writer Geoff Dyer is frequently classified as “unclassifiable;” his writing is wildly eclectic, yet gorgeously coherent. His new book, Another Great Day at Sea—about life on an American aircraft carrier—is at the same time a travelogue, unerring social observation, and honed comedy. Zona, his meditation on the film Stalker, by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, was supposed to be a book about tennis; his book about D.H. Lawrence, Out of Sheer Rage, is essentially about not writing a book about D.H. Lawrence; and Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered to Do It is definitely not a self-help book. Rodman and Dyer will attempt to account for the “singular restlessness” of Dyer’s writing, while happily digressing on other subjects.
In conversation with Howard A. Rodman, Professor of Screenwriting, USC School of Cinematic Arts
The work of British writer Geoff Dyer is frequently classified as “unclassifiable;” his writing is wildly eclectic, yet gorgeously coherent. His new book, Another Great Day at Sea—about life on an American aircraft carrier—is at the same time a travelogue, unerring social observation, and honed comedy. Zona, his meditation on the film Stalker, by Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky, was supposed to be a book about tennis; his book about D.H. Lawrence, Out of Sheer Rage, is essentially about not writing a book about D.H. Lawrence; and Yoga for People Who Can’t Be Bothered to Do It is definitely not a self-help book. Rodman and Dyer will attempt to account for the “singular restlessness” of Dyer’s writing, while happily digressing on other subjects.





![Let Us Descend: Jesmyn Ward in conversation with Traci Thomas
Join us for a special evening with two-time National Book Award Winner Jesmyn Ward in conversation with Traci Thomas, creator and host of the critically-acclaimed literary podcast The Stacks. Ward returns to the ALOUD stage to discuss her raw, transcendent novel Let Us Descend. Her work has garnered considerable attention both with critics and audiences alike and Let us Descend is no exception—instantly a New York Times bestseller, chosen as an Oprah Winfrey Book Club book, and named one of the best books of 2023 by The New Yorker, Washington Post, and Vanity Fair, among others.
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