The Lenfest Center of the Arts hosts author Katie Kitamura to have an intimate discussion about her newest novel.

The Lenfest Center for the Arts put on an Art + Life series that brings together authors to showcase their work, discuss their creative process, and engage in conversation with esteemed Columbia Creative Writing faculty. To kick of this year’s series, the center hosted author Katie Kitamura, the winner of the Rome Prize in Literature and the Prix Litteraire Lucien Barriere, a regular in Obama’s book lists, and the author of five novels. She is currently on tour for her most recent book Audition, which centers on an actress and her complex relationships. 

The event, hosted in the Katharina Otto-Bernstein Screening Room, was well attended by readers and writers of all ages eagerly awaiting the author of honor. The screening room was filled with rows of velvet red seats, with two cushioned chairs of the same color in the front of the room. The audience’s chatter lulled as Kitamura and other faculty filed into the reserved seats on the right of the audience, while Professor Lars Horn walked up to the podium to introduce Kitamura and express the intention of the Art + Life series fostering discussion between students and authors.  

After her grand welcoming, Kitamura rose to the podium and began the evening with a reading of Audition. Illuminated by a soft spotlight, Kitamura read an excerpt that explored age, artistic vision, and interpretation with captivating passion. The section highlighted the relationship between a performance and audience, and the porous boundary between art and reality. 

Kitamura then sat down with Columbia professor Hilary Leichter. Leichter began with her first question, asking about the process of writing Audition. Kitamura discussed how her idea for the novel first entered her mind a decade ago and had since “accrue[d] layers.” She described how intimate her writing process was and her discovery of how “you are revealed in your books,” emphasizing that an author is unraveled “all over the book.” Her inspiration for the novel partially stemmed from her journey with motherhood and the volatile nature of relationships with one’s children as they age and change so rapidly. 

Another emphasis of the discussion was Kitamura’s desire to write in pursuit of her own pleasure, stating that Audition is exactly the book she wanted to write. The book is separated into two distinct sections and the unique form was discussed significantly within the talk; a reflection of the novel’s theme of the porous boundary between reality and fantasy and how different interpretations of reality have the power to systematically change a dynamic. The novel was described as part thriller with “weird things” happening in the book, alluding to a specific zenith of the book that surprised and bewildered Leichter. I had not read the book prior and the conversation had me internally screaming, What happened in this damn book?!?! The discussion intentionally avoided spoilers in order for the audience to have the opportunity to enjoy the novel after hearing Kitamura’s commentary. 

The novel is written with multiple interpretations in mind, with the form lending itself perfectly to contradictory explanations. Kitamura alternately described the novel as seeing two sides of the looking glass, as a “spot-the-difference game,” and as a “brain twisting image.” She referenced the rabbit and duck illusion, where one person can definitively see a rabbit and the other a duck –  Kitamura, conversely, wanted to find out how to make her readers see both at the same time. Hearing about the novel’s dialectic exposition of family, reality, partnership, and art  made me instantly begin reading the novel after the talk was over. 

The final section of the event allowed the  audience to ask questions, with fervent readers and aspiring authors picking Kitamura’s creative brain. At the conclusion of the night, audience members had the opportunity to purchase Audition and get it signed by Kitamura. The night was inspirational, educational, and fun and had me glued to the CLIO Ereader website to get started on Audition for the rest of the night.

Art + Life Series via Author