In one human form, Ann Patchett offers everything a reader could want in an author.

The award-winning and bestselling talent behind over seven novels, including Bel Canto, Commonwealth, and The Patron Saint of Liars, Patchett is a rivetingly funny public speaker who writes beautiful prose on serious subjects.

Patchett opened and co-owns an independent bookstore (Parnassus) in Nashville, through which she passionately advocates for independent bookstores and the power of literature. She won the Orange Prize, PEN/Faulkner, multiple fellowships, was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time, released a children’s book in 2019 in addition to a new major work of fiction—and has a beautiful little dog named Sparky.

In short: Patchett is the ultimate reader’s writer.

On October 16th, Patchett joins the Foundation to share The Dutch House, a novel about two closely bonded siblings whose past has the imprisoning quality of quicksand. Danny and Maeve were born to a poor WWII veteran who gained wealth through an empire of real estate, but the family home he purchased for his wife becomes a cornerstone of misery for the siblings when their stepmother throws them out into poverty. Over five decades, the suspenseful story of their reckoning with that old house unfolds.

Patchett brings the story to life in October at the beautiful Menlo-Atherton Center Performing Arts Center on the Menlo-Atherton High School campus. Join us for a riveting author presentation followed by a book signing. Meet this literary phenom in person with Kepler’s Literary Foundation.