PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction-winning author Joseph O’Neill investigates the legacy of colonialism in the context of family love, global capitalism, and sport in his novel Godwin.

Mark Wolfe, a brilliant if self-thwarting technical writer, lives in Pittsburgh with his wife, Sushila, and their toddler daughter. His half-brother Geoff, born and raised in the United Kingdom, is a desperate young soccer agent. He pulls Mark across the ocean into a scheme to track down an elusive prospect known only as “Godwin”—an African teenager Geoff believes could be the next Lionel Messi. Narrated in turn by Mark and his work colleague Lakesha Williams, Godwin is a tale of family and migration as well as an international adventure story that implicates the brothers in the beauty and ugliness of soccer, the perils and promises of international business, and the dark history of transatlantic money-making. As only he can do, Joseph O’Neill investigates the legacy of colonialism in the context of family love, global capitalism, and the dreaming individual.

REGISTER HERE. Books are available for purchase, and the author will sign copies following the discussion.

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About the Author:

Joseph O’Neill was born in Ireland and grew up in Mozambique, Iran, Turkey, and Holland. His previous novels include the PEN/Faulkner Award–winning Netherland and the Booker Prize long-listed The Dog. O’Neill’s short fiction appears regularly in The New Yorker and his political essays in The New York Review of Books.

About the Moderator:

Omar Acevedo is the Literary Program Coordinator at The Mark Twain House & Museum, where he organizes author talks, writing workshops, and other public programs. A writer from Hartford, he has contributed to numerous publications. He has taught at the MFA Winter Residency at Western Connecticut State University.