Harvard Book Store Virtual Event: E.C. Osondu

presenting Alien Stories in conversation with WILLIAM PIERCE

Harvard Book Store’s virtual event series welcomes award-winning writer E.C. OSONDU—author of the acclaimed story collection Voice of America and This House Is Not For Sale: A Novel—for a discussion of his latest story collection, Alien Stories. He will be joined in conversation by WILLIAM PIERCE, coeditor of AGNI and The AGNI Portfolio of African Fiction.

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While payment is not required, we are suggesting a $5 contribution to support this author series, our staff, and the future of Harvard Book Store—a locally owned, independently run Cambridge institution. In addition, by purchasing a copy of Alien Stories on harvard.com, you support indie bookselling and the writing community during this difficult time.

About Alien Stories

Celebrated Nigerian-born writer E.C. Osondu delivers a short-story collection of nimble dexterity and startling originality in his BOA Short Fiction Prize-winning Alien Stories.

These eighteen startling stories, each centered around an encounter with the unexpected, explore what it means to be an alien. With a nod to the dual meaning of alien as both foreigner and extraterrestrial, Osondu turns familiar science-fiction tropes and immigration narratives on their heads, blending one with the other to call forth a whirlwind of otherness. With wry observations about society and human nature, in shifting landscapes from Africa to America to outer space and back again, Alien Stories breaks down the concept of foreignness to reveal what unites us all as ‘aliens’ within a complex and interconnected universe.

Praise for E.C. Osondu

“A vital voice in the short story, telling us new truths with deep humanity.” —George Saunders, author of Lincoln in the Bardo

“Osondu looks at the human condition in all its poignant absurdity; with observant wonder and subtle humor, he portrays our capacity for heartbreak, resilience, love, courage, sorrow, and most of all, our unique capacity for hope and hopelessness rolled together.” —Mary Gaitskill, author of This Is Pleasure

“E.C. Osondu has written uncannily direct stories with nothing ‘posed’ about them. This is a collection of real power, surprise, and harsh beauty.” —Amy Hempel, author of Sing to It