Five-time O. Henry short-story winner Deborah Eisenberg will read from an unpublished work at the Dey House tonight.

By Tong Tong
[email protected]

Deborah Eisenberg’s life has undergone a number of radical changes. Once an actress, then a teacher, she is now an acclaimed short-story writer and professor at Columbia University.

She will read from her new, unpublished work The Third Tower at 8 p.m. today at the Dey House.

She has been described as “one of the most important fiction writers now at work, her stories machines of perfect revelation deftly constructed by a contemporary master,” by Ben Marcus in The New York Times.

Twilight of Superheroes, her most recent work, which came out in 2006, revolves around a group of friends in the aftermath of 9/11.

The new story is supposed to be mysterious, and it might not be easy to understand the whole content just by listening to it.

“I assume the readers to read my story quite dense and complicated,” Eisenberg said. “But I hope it will be nice to listen to.”

RELATED: UI pays tribute to Writer’s Workshop alumnus Denis Johnson

Although she said she preferred to read what is written on the page, she has done a few readings before, and she thought of it as a form of communication with the readers.

Eisenberg said writing is an interesting and exciting process, and it was also a way of exploration.

She currently teaches at Columbia and has taught at the University of Virginia since 1994.

She has published four collections, Transactions in a Foreign Currency, Under the 82nd Airborne, All around Atlantis, and Twilight of the Superheroes. The still unpublished work is set to be released sometime in 2018. Her work was published over a 20-year span, with Transactions in a Foreign Currency being released in 1986.

For her works, Eisenberg has received five O. Henry awards for her short stories, a 2009 MacArthur genius grant, the 2001 PEN Faulkner award for fiction, and numerous fellowships.

Eisenberg has also acted in the films While We’re Young, Saigon-Year of the Cat, and Marie and Bruce.

The reading is held by the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. The Workshop has held numerous readings with outstanding writers from all over the country. It has also provided the chance for talented writers to learn alongside established poets and prose writers.

Time: November 9, 8 p.m.

Location: The University of Iowa Writer’s Workshop