Former COD student Leigh Stein to read from new novel Oct. 8
Former College of DuPage student Leigh Stein will read from her new poetry collection and her debut novel, “The Fallback Plan,” at 7 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 8, in the Student Resource Center, Room 2000, at College of DuPage.
The free event is part of the College's popular “Writers Read” series, which brings authors to COD's campus for evenings of readings and discussions.
“The Fallback Plan” is the 27-year-old Stein's first novel, which the Chicago Tribune described as “an enchantingly funny and insightful debut novel … has a universal quality, capturing a generation's angst quite like ‘Franny and Zooey' did when it was published in 1961.”
A former New Yorker staff member and frequent contributor to its “Book Bench” blog, Stein has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize for her poetry and earned the Poets and Writers Magazine's Amy Award. Her latest poetry collection is called “Dispatch from the Future.”
Stein currently lives in Brooklyn, where she works in children's publishing and teaches musical theater to elementary school students. In 2002 and 2003, she was an Honors program student at College of DuPage after attending Glenbard East High School.
“I hated the culture of high school and felt more challenged by – and interested in – the classes at COD,” said the former Lombard resident. “The Honors program was a huge lifesaver for me.”
Stein began writing poetry at age 13 and took her only class in poetry at COD with Freyda Libman, a “fantastic” English professor. Stein took two other classes with Libman while studying theater, appearing in a College Theater production of “Brighton Beach Memoirs.”
In 2003, she moved to New York City to pursue her love of theater. While she was enrolled at an acting conservatory, she began writing short stories every night in her dorm room and had her first story published that year.
“As much as I loved theater, I realized that I was more interested in the creative job of the writer than the re-creative job of the actress,” she said.
During her reading at College of DuPage, Stein wants to encourage students not to be afraid of approaching life in their own unique ways.
“My own educational path has been so unconventional, but I've made it work, and I think my success is due to my creative attitude toward work and school,” she said. “I've worked a bunch of different jobs, and I've always managed to be employed because I'm willing to try just about anything once. There's no shame in doing things differently than those who came before you, but you might have to fight a little harder to get what you want.”
The Writers Read series is sponsored by the Liberal Arts Division. For more information, call (630) 942-3291 or email montgome@cod.edu. You can also read more about “The Fallback Plan” and “Dispatch from the Future.”