Novelist and critic Edmund White discusses his new memoir City Boy on Monday, February 22, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

White became immediately became involved with the publishing industry upon moving to New York from the Midwest in 1962 but struggled to get his own writing career off the ground. His first book Forgetting Elena was finally published in 1971, but sold only 600 copies.

In City Boy, White says he “longed for literary celebrity” and recalls how he overcame setbacks and his own insecurities to write 23 books, including A Boy’s Own Story – his autobiographical novel about growing up gay in the 1950s. He explains how “Fun City” became “Fear City” with the AIDS crisis and recalls meeting such legendary figures as Truman Capote and William S. Burroughs.

White is a member of the faculty at Princeton University’s Program in Creative Writing. The event is part of the Writers at Work series organized by Kansas City novelist Whitney Terrell and co-sponsored by Chris Davis and the English Department at UMKC.

Copies of City Boy will be available for sale, and White will sign copies purchased during the event.