Author Dan Chaon brings haunting stories to Joseph-Beth Thursday | Arts & Culture

NORWOOD, OH (FOX19) - Before the critically acclaimed novels Await Your Reply and You Remind Me of Me, Ohio author Dan Chaon made a name for himself as a writer of short stories.  Now, in Stay Awake, Chaon returns to that form for the first time since his Among the Missing, a finalist for the National Book Award.

On Thursday night, Chaon (pronounced "Shawn") will make an evening appearance at Joseph Beth Booksellers, discussing and signing the new book at 7:00 p.m.

In his haunting, suspenseful stories, the lost, fragile, searching characters wander between ordinary life and a psychological shadowland.  They have experienced intense love or loss, grief or loneliness, displacement or disconnection and find themselves in unexpected, dire, and sometimes unfathomable situations.

Among the Missing, a finalist for the National Book Award, was also listed as one of the ten best books of the year by the American Library Association, Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, and Entertainment Weekly, and cited as a New York Times Notable Book.

Chaon's fiction has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, and won both Pushcart and O. Henry awards. He teaches at Oberlin College and lives in Cleveland Heights, Ohio, with his wife and two sons.

Joseph-Beth is in Rookwood Pavilions at the southeast corner of Norwood, adjacent to Hyde Park and Oakley at the northwest corner of Madison and Edwards Roads.

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