Last Thursday Coe brought Karen Thomson Walker to read from her first novel The Age of Miracles. Walker read the first few pages of her novel; the story of a young girl living in a time when the world has begun to rotate more slowly. After reading, Walker told some stories of how she came up with the idea and a bit about how she went about writing the novel. Then she opened it up to the audience to ask some questions. Questions varied from content to style, from life style to profession, from passion to translation (featuring a small anecdote about French translators being quite picky). The room was filled with an air of wonder during the reading and a lighthearted mood surrounded the conversation during and after the questions.

Walker was born and raised in San Diego, California. Her story was set in California, in an unmentioned town, because Walker felt that Californians often live through the risks of natural forces. Everyone always says that California will have an awful earthquake and become an island. She also mentioned that she loves sentences, she wrote an article about them and all of their importance (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390444405804577561352868838934). She also talked about her Tedtalks on the subject of fear (http://www.ted.com/talks/karen_thompson_walker_what_fear_can_teach_us). All in all she was a blast to have on campus and her novel was exceptional from the first page to the last, which, when one considers endings, is really quite impressive.

By: Paulina Harrison