Pitt Book Center to Host Author Stewart O'Nan November 5

PITTSBURGH—Stewart O'Nan, a Pittsburgh native and the 1993 Drue Heinz Prize in Literature winner for "In the Walled City"(University of Pittsburgh Press, 1993), will return to his hometown to give a presentation on his new novel "Last Night at the Lobster" (Penguin Group, 2007) at noon Nov. 5 in the University of Pittsburgh Book Center, 4000 Fifth Avenue, Oakland.

The plot of "Last Night at the Lobster" focuses on the life of protagonist, Manny DeLeon, a manager of a Red Lobster located in the far corner of a run-down mall in Connecticut. While dealing with the death of his abuelita ("grandmother" in Spanish), his unrequited love of a waitress, and finding the perfect present for his pregnant girlfriend, DeLeon learns that his Red Lobster will be closed due to lack of sales.

O'Nan has taught at Cornell University, the University of Central Oklahoma, and Trinity College. He graduated from Boston University in 1983 with a BS in Engineering. Encouraged by his wife to pursue writing, O'Nan earned his MFA at Cornell University in 1992.

"Faithful: Two Diehard Boston Red Sox Fans Chronicle the Historic 2004 Season" (Scribner Books, 2004), cowritten by Stephen King and O'Nan, will be adapted into a miniseries for HBO in 2008.

"My biggest challenge and the part of the job I love the most are the same: letting the reader feel what it's like to be someone they otherwise might never think of," said O'Nan in an interview with publisher Penguin Group.

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10/29/07/amm