David Ebershoff, Author of The Danish Girl, to Read at UNC Asheville on Feb. 21; Film to Screen on Feb. 19

David Ebershoff, author of the novels The Danish Girl, The 19th Wife, and Pasadena, and the short story collection The Rose City, will read from and discuss his works at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 21, in UNC Asheville’s Sherrill Center, Ingles Mountain View Room. The Danish Girl was adapted into an Oscar-winning movie, and UNC Asheville will screen the film at 7 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 19 in the Highsmith Union Grotto. These events are free and open to everyone.

The Danish Girl, loosely inspired by a true story, was listed by The New York Times on a timeline of 25 books that “have shaped LBGTQ history” over the past 20 years. In the film, English actor Eddie Redmayne was cast as the Danish painter and transgender pioneer Lili Elbe, and he earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor. Alicia Vikander, who played Elbe’s wife, won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Last year, Ebershoff established the Lili Elbe scholarships for emerging transgender writers in conjunction with the Lambda Literary Foundation.

The 19th Wife, Ebershoff’s novel which is set in Utah’s polygamist communities of the late 19th century and reaches into the present, was listed at the top of BookRiot’s list of Must-Read Books of U.S. Historical Fiction and was adapted as a Lifetime television movie. His Pasadena, a historical novel set in the city of his birth, became a New York Times best-seller.

Ebershoff, who teaches in the graduate writing program at Columbia University, reached prominence as an editor before becoming a published author. He was vice president and executive editor at Random House where he edited three Pulitzer Prize winners, a winner of the National Book Award, and more than 20 New York Times best-sellers.

Ebershoff is UNC Asheville’s Goodman Endowed Visiting Writer for the spring semester 2018; his talk and the film screening are presented by UNC Asheville as part of the Department of English Visiting Writer Series, with support from Biltmore Farms Hotels, Blue Ridge Public Radio and Our Statemagazine.

Upcoming in UNC Asheville’s Department of English Visiting Writer Series

April 3 – Poet Donald Morrill and Novelist Lisa Birnbaum, 7 p.m., Karpen Hall, Laurel Forum.

April 12 – Poet and Recording Artist Joy Harjo, 7 p.m., Lipinsky Auditorium.

These events are free and open to everyone. For more information, contact UNC Asheville’s Department of English at 828.251.6411.