Dawn Powell and the Village in Print

Novelist, playwright, diarist and cultural critic Dawn Powell moved in the same circles as Dorothy Parker, Ernest Hemingway, Maxwell Perkins and other 20th-century luminaries. Originally from Ohio, Powell’s compelling novels often focused on her adopted home of New York City, where she moved in 1918 and lived for the rest of her life. A 2012 New Yorker profile stated that “…she dove into city life with an outlander’s anthropological zeal,” and it is this exploration and celebration of New York life that fostered her reputation for scouring wit and social observation. Though Powell’s work has been out of print in recent years, she was at the center of Village culture during her career. Join Patricia Palermo, the author of The Message of the City, a critical biography which put Powell’s life and career in the historical and cultural context of New York City and Greenwich Village, to explore Powell’s diaries and letters, as well as contemporaries’ works. Using these primary sources, Palmero pieces together the rich city life that Powell so expertly observed and critiqued. Palmero’s book will be avialable for purchase and signing after the event.