Essayist John D’Agata holds public reading

John D’Agata prefaced his public reading with a word of warning to the audience that his… John D’Agata prefaced his public reading with a word of warning to the audience that his paragraph transitions may appear abrupt.

“Some may see this as sloppy, but others may call it intentional. You can decide,” the nonfiction essayist said to a full house Tuesday night in the Frick Fine Arts Building.

D’Agata, known for his unique writing style, read an excerpt from his book “About a Mountain,” which he characterized as one long essay with no real breaks. The reading was part of the Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series, which runs throughout the year.

The passage told the tale of D’Agata’s experience in Las Vegas, where he traveled to help his mother move into her new home. There, he became interested in Nevada’s Yucca Mountain and volunteered for the local suicide hotline, two stories he weaved together in the last section of his novel.

Geeta Kothari, director of the Writing Center, described D’Agata as a writer with “rare intelligence and artistry.”

Before he began reading the passage, D’Agata gave the audience permission to laugh at anything in the book.

“I feel like I have to give permission because I haven’t before, and I’ve seen people in the audience giggling behind their hands because they felt it was inappropriate. It’s completely okay to laugh,” he said.

He spoke before an audience of more than 100, who sat in silence for the half-hour reading and laughed on cue. The section he read detailed his immersion in Las Vegas, where he spoke to representatives of the Department of Energy about a plan to fill Yucca Mountain with nuclear waste.

Quickly the tale moved to the suicide of Levi Presley and his fatal jump from the top of Las Vegas’ Stratosphere Hotel. D’Agata’s volunteer work propelled him to investigate the story after hearing about it on the local news. His investigation led him to a sit-down with Presley’s family that he described in detail, transcribing the conversations he had while sitting in the family’s den, watching TV Land with Presley’s ashes on his lap.

“This passage is risky because ‘About a Mountain’ is an essay, and by reading something from the end, you don’t see how I got here,” D’Agata said before he started the text, which he read at the request of a student audience member.

Sophomore Kimiya Memarzadeh said she found it difficult to follow the frequent transitions.

“He lost me at one point, but the ending was impactful,” she said.

D’Agata’s visit to Pitt was not his first. He said in his introduction that he came to Pitt about 10 years ago to give his first public reading.

“I remember when I got the invitation, I felt like a real writer because a real school felt it was worthwhile to invite me to speak,” he said.

Sten Carlson, managing director of the Contemporary Writers Series, said he was pleased with the turnout to the event.

“I feel like we had a great response; we filled the auditorium,” he said.

D’Agata has edited two anthologies of essays and written two novels: “About a Mountain,” and “Halls of Fame.”  He holds two MFAs in poetry and nonfiction from the University of Iowa, where he works as a professor. D’Agata has also won several awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, a sizable grant given to artists to pursue their craft.