The parallels between writing a novel and engineering a car or power plant are striking and provide powerful insights, argues author Nick Arvin. He’s uniquely positioned to make the argument as an award-winning author of novels and short stories who is also a professional engineer with twenty years of experience. Join us for a discussion of the unique ways that engineers and writers see the world and an examination of the question, what can storytellers and engineers learn from each other?
Nick Arvin is the author of four acclaimed books of fiction, including most recently the novel Mad Boy, which won the Colorado Book Award. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Ploughshares, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere. His fiction has been honored with awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the American Library Association, and the National Endowment for the Arts, and his novel Articles of War was a One Book, One Denver selection. He is also an engineer who has worked in the automotive industry and forensic engineering, and currently works on the design of biofuel facilities.