Author Courtney Maum will return to Greenwich on Tuesday, Oct. 6, to discuss her novel "Alan Opts Out" at Dogwood Books & Gifts.
Maum grew up in town and attended Greenwich Academy for 14 years. The 6:30 p.m. event pairs two Greenwich Academy alumnae. Dana Chivvis, a journalist and producer for the Pulitzer Prize-winning public radio program "This American Life," will moderate the conversation. Chivvis also co-hosted the New York Times podcast "Serial: Season Four" and produced "Serial's" first two seasons.
The evening is a partnership between Dogwood Books and Greenwich Academy, according to event listings on Patch and Eventbrite.
"Alan Opts Out," published June 2 by Little, Brown and Company, follows Alan Anderson, an advertising executive who has a crisis of conscience and moves into his suburban backyard playhouse. The fictional town of Belleport, Connecticut, draws on Greenwich and its gated seaside neighborhood of Belle Haven, Maum told The Rumpus in an August interview.
"The pillars of the American Dream have termites in them," Maum said in a June interview with the Chicago Review of Books, describing the themes driving the novel.
Hollywood noticed, too. Deadline reported in July that HBO picked up "Alan Opts Out" for development as a half-hour comedy. "Suburgatory" creator Emily Kapnek is writing and showrunning the adaptation, with Bill Lawrence's Doozer production company and Warner Bros. Television producing. Maum is an executive producer on the project.
Maum is the author of six books, including the New York Times Editors' Choice novel "Touch," the memoir "The Year of the Horses" and the publishing guide "Before and After the Book Deal." Her Substack newsletter of the same name reaches 40,000 subscribers.
The Greenwich Sentinel noted in its Sept. 21 coverage of Christ Church's fall programming that Dogwood's October lineup brings the conversation "closer to home."
Tickets are $40 and include a copy of the book, wine and charcuterie. Dogwood Books & Gifts is located inside Christ Church Greenwich at 254 East Putnam Ave.
