Garth Greenwell in Conversation With Omar El Akkad

Sofia, Bulgaria, a landlocked city in southern Europe, stirs with hope and impending upheaval. In this atmosphere of disquiet, an American teacher navigates a life transformed by the discovery and loss of love. As he prepares to leave the place he’s come to call home, he grapples with the intimate encounters that have marked his years abroad, each bearing uncanny reminders of his past. Cleanness (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) revisits and expands the world of Garth Greenwell’s award-winning debut, What Belongs to You. In exacting, elegant prose, he transcribes the strange dialects of desire, cementing his stature as one of our most vital living writers. Greenwell will be joined in conversation by Omar El Akkad, author of American War.