Dan O'Brien is an internationally-recognized playwright and poet who has received such honors the Guggenheim Fellowship in Drama, the Horton Foote Prize, the Edward M. Kennedy Prize and two PEN America Awards. O'Brien has published three poetry collections (War Reporter, New Life, and Scarsdale) and is set to release his new book next month.
Entitled 'A Story that Happens: On Playwriting, Childhood, & Other Traumas'
, the book is collection of essays originally written as a series of craft lectures for the annual Sewanee Writers' Conference. Drawing on O'Brien's experience with cancer, childhood abuse, his friendship and collaboration with a war reporter, and his years of playwriting, this book delivers meaningful reflections on storytelling in the theatre, and insights into writing through the lens of trauma and triumph.