When she learned that Ethan Hawke was working on a special audio edition of her acclaimed novel Gilead, Marilynne Robinson's response was to get a better idea of who he was.
"I can't say I was familiar with his voice," Robinson said of the four-time Oscar nominee whose films include Before Sunrise, Reality Bites and Boyhood. But when Robinson watched Hawke star as a troubled priest in Paul Schrader's First Reformed she felt confident he could inhabit the life of an aging Iowa minister in the 1950s, one whom Robinson describes as "a man deep in conversation with himself."
“He [Hawke] speaks in a sort of American way that is well within the range of what I understand my character to be speaking," she said.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize in 2005, Gilead is the first of four Robinson novels set in a rural Iowa community in the 1950s. It's narrated by the dying Reverend John Ames, a Congregationalist pastor who reflects on his family history and the suffering and transcendence he has known in this "poor perishable world." The book's many admirers include former President Barack Obama, who has spoken of reading Gilead while campaigning in Iowa.
Hawke has recorded an abridged narrative of Gilead that was commissioned by Manhattan's 92nd Street Y and can he streamed and listened to online from October 19 to 29 here. Bernard Schwartz, who directs the Y's Unterberg Poetry Center, said in a statement that he thought Hawke was an ideal narrator.
"In Gilead, the Reverend John Ames contemplates 'grace as a sort of ecstatic fire that takes things down to essentials,'" he said. "I read that and think of Ethan Hawke's voice. Gilead is a great American novel, and Ethan Hawke is a great American actor."
In a recent email, Hawke remembered his first encounter with Robinson, when she read from Gilead at Shakespeare and Company in Paris, as a "near Holy experience."
"Her humility as a person, and the depth of her writing, was inspiring – so I started reading," he explained.
Hawke's roles have ranged from the born skeptics of Reality Bites and Before Sunrise to the violently committed John Brown, the 19th century abolitionist whom he plays in the Showtime adaptation of James McBride's prize-winning novel The Good Lord Bird. The Reverend Ames, as much seeker in his own way as some of Hawke's more secular characters, is in his "wheelhouse," the actor says.
“If anyone has the Chutzpah to make it a film, I hope they cast me.”
Tickets to stream Ethan Hawke's reading of 'Gilead' cost $20; available from October 19 to 25; more information available at www.92y.org/event/marilynne-robinson-s-gilead.aspx
The biogs
Name: Zinah Madi
Occupation: Co-founder of Dots and links
Nationality: Syrian
Family: Married, Mother of Tala, 18, Sharif, 14, Kareem, 2
Favourite Quote: “There is only one way to succeed in anything, and that is to give it everything.”
Name: Razan Nabulsi
Occupation: Co-founder of Dots and Links
Nationality: Jordanian
Family: Married, Mother of Yahya, 3.5
Favourite Quote: A Chinese proverb that says: “Be not afraid of moving slowly, be afraid only of standing still.”
SERIE A FIXTURES
Saturday Spezia v Lazio (6pm), Juventus v Torino (9pm), Inter Milan v Bologna (7.45pm)
Sunday Verona v Cagliari (3.30pm), Parma v Benevento, AS Roma v Sassuolo, Udinese v Atalanta (all 6pm), Crotone v Napoli (9pm), Sampdoria v AC Milan (11.45pm)
Monday Fiorentina v Genoa (11.45pm)
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Kamindu Mendis bio
Full name: Pasqual Handi Kamindu Dilanka Mendis
Born: September 30, 1998
Age: 20 years and 26 days
Nationality: Sri Lankan
Major teams Sri Lanka's Under 19 team
Batting style: Left-hander
Bowling style: Right-arm off-spin and slow left-arm orthodox (that's right!)
Women’s World T20, Asia Qualifier, in Bangkok
UAE fixtures Mon Nov 20, v China; Tue Nov 21, v Thailand; Thu Nov 23, v Nepal; Fri Nov 24, v Hong Kong; Sun Nov 26, v Malaysia; Mon Nov 27, Final
(The winners will progress to the Global Qualifier)
Pharaoh's curse
British aristocrat Lord Carnarvon, who funded the expedition to find the Tutankhamun tomb, died in a Cairo hotel four months after the crypt was opened.
He had been in poor health for many years after a car crash, and a mosquito bite made worse by a shaving cut led to blood poisoning and pneumonia.
Reports at the time said Lord Carnarvon suffered from “pain as the inflammation affected the nasal passages and eyes”.
Decades later, scientists contended he had died of aspergillosis after inhaling spores of the fungus aspergillus in the tomb, which can lie dormant for months. The fact several others who entered were also found dead withiin a short time led to the myth of the curse.
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
RESULT
Valencia 3
Kevin Gameiro 21', 51'
Ferran Torres 67'
Atlanta 4
Josip Llicic 3' (P), 43' (P), 71', 82'
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Eco%20Way%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20December%202023%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounder%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Ivan%20Kroshnyi%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%2C%20UAE%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Electric%20vehicles%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Bootstrapped%20with%20undisclosed%20funding.%20Looking%20to%20raise%20funds%20from%20outside%3Cbr%3E%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
