Pulitzer Prize-winning book critic Michael Dirda introduces Kansas City’s 2010 Big Read selection—Marilynne Robinson’s novel Housekeeping—on Tuesday, April 6, at 6:30 p.m. at the Central Library, 14 W. 10th St.

A meditation on family, memory, and transience (in all its senses), Dirda describes the novel as a mysterious and beautifully composed coming of age story that is full of the humorous, the hallucinatory, and the often strangely unnerving—before asserting that no attentive reader will forget such an enigmatic and poetic book.

The Big Read celebration begins with Dirda offering his tips on reading and appreciating this strikingly original masterpiece.

Dirda earned the Pulitzer Prize for criticism in 1993 for his reviews published in The Washington Post Book World, where he worked for 25 years before becoming a weekly book columnist for the paper. He serves on the National Endowment for the Arts advisory board for The Big Read and has chaired two Pulitzer Prize juries. His books include the memoir An Open Book and four collections of essays: Readings, Bound to Please, Book by Book,and Classics for Pleasure.

All guests registered and in attendance at the Big Read kick-off will receive a complimentary paperback edition of Housekeeping.

The Big Read is a program of the National Endowment for the Arts in partnership with the Institute of Museum and Library Services and Arts Midwest.