Tania James, author of Atlas of Unknowns, presents her new collection of short stories. Hannah Tinti will be on hand to discuss the book with her.

About Aerogrammes: and Other Stories:

From the highly acclaimed author of Atlas of Unknowns ("Dazzling...One of the most exciting debut novels since Zadie Smith's White Teeth"—San Francisco Chronicle; "An astonishment of a debut"—Junot Díaz), a bravura collection of short stories set in locales as varied as London, Sierra Leone, and the American Midwest that captures the yearning and dislocation of young men and women around the world.

In "Lion and Panther in London," a turn-of-the-century Indian wrestler arrives in London desperate to prove himself champion of the world, only to find the city mysteriously absent of challengers. In "Light & Luminous," a gifted dance instructor falls victim to her own vanity when a student competition allows her a final encore. In "The Scriptological Review: A Last Letter from the Editor," a young man obsessively studies his father's handwriting in hopes of making sense of his death. And in the marvelous "What to Do with Henry," a white woman from Ohio takes in the illegitimate child her husband left behind in Sierra Leone, as well as an orphaned chimpanzee who comes to anchor this strange new family.

With exuberance and compassion, Tania James once again draws us into the lives of damaged, driven, and beautifully complicated characters who quietly strive for human connection.

About the Author:

Tania James is the author of the novel Atlas of Unknowns. Her fiction has appeared in Boston Review, Granta, One Story, A Public Space, and The Kenyon Review. She lives in Washington, D.C.

About Hannah Tinti:

Hannah Tinti grew up in Salem, Massachusetts. Her short story collection Animal Crackers has sold in sixteen countries and was a runner-up for the PEN/Hemingway award. Her best-selling novel, The Good Thief, is a New York Times Notable Book of the Year, recipient of the American Library Association's Alex Award, winner of the John Sargent Sr. First Novel Prize, and winner of the Quality Paperback Book Club's New Voices Award.

Hannah is also co-founder and editor-in-chief of One Story magazine, and received the 2009 PEN/Nora Magid award for excellence in editing. Recently, she joined the Public Radio program Selected Shorts as their Literary Commentator.

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