Lori Ostlund’s novel After the Parade (Scribner, 2015) was shortlisted for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and was a Barnes and Noble Discover pick. Her first book, a story collection entitled The Bigness of the World, won the 2008 Flannery O’Connor Award, the Edmund White Debut Fiction Award, and the 2009 California Book Award for First Fiction. Stories from it appeared in the Best American Short Stories and the PEN/O. Henry Prize Stories, among other places. Lori has received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Award and was a finalist for the 2017 Simpson Family Literary Prize. She is a teacher and lives in San Francisco with her wife, son, and cats, though she spent her formative years in Minnesota, cat-less.
Kelley Ogden will read “The Bus Driver” by Lori Ostlund. Kelley is an actress, director and producer who has performed locally with Capital Stage, Davis Shakespeare Festival, Main Street Theater Works, Falcons Eye Theatre, Celebration Arts, Sacramento Shakespeare Festival, and Theater Galatea among others. She also co-founded KOLT Run Creations, an award-winning experimental theater company, with her wife, local director Lisa Thew. Kelley has a BFA in Performance from The Theatre School at DePaul University, and spent her youth working with companies all over the country, including Steppenwolf Theater in Chicago and Stages Repertory in Houston. Currently, Kelley works primarily behind the mic as voice talent for short films and podcasts. She loves gardening, baking, baseball, the WNBA, and reading for Stories on Stage!
Originally from the Bay Area, Jessica Guerrieri lives in Davis California with her husband and 3 daughters. Jessica has a background teaching special education, but she left the field to pursue her passion for writing and to raise her girls. She is a vocal advocate for recovery with over 12 years of sobriety.
Her debut literary book club fiction novel Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, won the Maurice Prize for fiction from her alma matter UC Davis.
Atim Udoffia will read an excerpt from The Devil and the Deep Blue Sea, by Jessica Guerrieri. Atim is an actor, director, and mother of two working in theatre and film/video in the Sacramento and Bay Area. Favorite stage roles include Emilie in Emilie La Marquise Du Chatelet Defends Her Life Tonight (The Stage @ Burke Junction), Lady Macbeth (STC), Nina in The Royale (Aurora Theatre Company), and Jory in Disgraced (Capital Stage). Her film credits include the feature films No Address, Fairyland, and Where Sleeping Dogs Lie. Opening in December, Udoffia is currently directing Danny and the Deep Blue Sea at Big Idea Theatre where she also directed Othello, Nap Time, and Charlie and Nell, for which she received the Best Director Award. Udoffia earned a BA in Human Biology from Stanford University before pursuing acting training in London and Los Angeles. She is pleased to return to SOS Davis and to share Jessica Guerrieri’s work with the Davis community! Thanks to Tim Gaffaney for the opportunity.