Author event with Dave Eggers

Parnassus Books and the Frist Art Museum are thrilled to present an afternoon with Dave Eggers for his new book, Contrapposto, in conversation with Lindsay Lynch.

This ticketed event will take place in the Frist Art Museum auditorium on Sunday, June 14th, at 2:00 PM. Doors will open at 1:15 PM.

Tickets:

Each ticket is $35.50 and includes one general admission seat and one signed copy of Contrapposto. All books will be pre-signed.

Please Note: There will be a signing line for personalizations following the event on stage.

(Ticket does not include admission to the museum galleries.)

Parking and Directions:

Frist Art Museum parking is accessible from Demonbreun Street, between Ninth and Tenth Avenues. The Guest Lot is adjacent to the south side of the building, with the entrance kiosk located near Demonbreun Street. The Frist will provide a validation coupon for the Frist parking lot only when you check in at the auditorium door.

There are accessible parking spaces in the northeast corner of the lot, with a barrier-free crosswalk and entry into the Turner Courtyard at the entrance marked with an accessibility sign.

If you do find the Frist lots full, there is a parking lot on Tenth Avenue directly across the street from Cummins Station. There is also parking available in the Gateway Parking Lot behind Union Station, accessible from an entrance just past The Finch restaurant on Tenth Avenue. PLEASE NOTE: THE FRIST DOES NOT CONTROL THESE LOTS AND CANNOT VALIDATE TICKETS FOR THEM.

We encourage carpooling and using rideshare services. You may also want to consider using .

About the book:

A sweeping novel about friendship, love, and the lifelong pursuit of art from Dave Eggers, the award-winning, bestselling author of The Circle, Hologram for the King, and The Eyes & the Impossible

Cricket Dib, born on the American prairie, has no particular prospects or ambitions until, in grade school, he realizes he can draw. He soon meets a girl, Olympia Argyros, one year older, who is captivating and brilliant and far more worldly. Recognizing his talent, she convinces him to deface, with profound vulgarity, a popular playground. Under her direction, he does it willingly, already in love, and thus begins a sixty-five-year entwining between Cricket and Olympia, encompassing friendship, working partnership and love affair. Together they go to art school--an experience of dubious value--and then navigate the art world for the next fifty years, together and apart.

Contrapposto is a moving and very funny novel about allies and art, and what it means to be an artist. All through their lives, Cricket sees Olympia as his soulmate and destiny, and while she is always his champion, romantically her eyes are always seeking something--and someone--else. Their love changes over the decades, but their commitment to each other, and their search for meaning in the making of art, never wanes. The novel spans the globe, from New York to Thailand, Indiana to Paris, and follows Cricket and Olympia through sickness and health, war and death.

The novel is a wild and beautiful examination of the rules and market forces of the art world, but chiefly it's about two friends who believe they can change that world, and bring new meaning to it, if only they can start their own movement, dodge charlatans, remain open-eyed and open-hearted, avoid going mad, avoid dying young of rare cancers, stay true to their ideals, and never tire of beauty. Not easy, but not impossible, either.

About the author:
Dave Eggers is the author of The Circle, The Monk of Mokha, A Hologram for the King, What Is the What, and The Museum of Rain, among other books. He is the cofounder of 826 National, a network of youth writing centers, and Art + Water, a nonprofit visual art hub on San Francisco's waterfront. A member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Eggers has been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award, and is the recipient of the Dayton Literary Peace Prize and the American Book Award. In 2024, The Eyes and the Impossible was awarded the Newbery Medal.

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