LongHouse Talks: Rue Matthiessen in conversation with Nina Rayburn Dec (July 14)

Join us on Sunday, July 14 from 3–5:00 pm for a conversation with author Rue Matthiessen and journalist Nina Rayburn Dec.

Nominated for the Pushcart Prize twice, Matthiessen's essays and short fiction have been published in numerous literary journals. Her memoir, Castles & Ruins, about growing up in an ambitious literary family, was published earlier this year. Decades after spending a summer in the Irish countryside with her parents—author Deborah Love and National Book Award winner Peter Matthiessen—Rue takes her young family back to Ireland to revisit locales from that season in the sixties. What begins as a simple, nostalgic trip quickly becomes something far more complex. As Rue digs deeper into her parents’ literary legacy, a trove of memories is unearthed, forcing her to reckon with a childhood fraught with the stormy energy of two brilliant parents often at odds with each other and their children. Both a rich and informative travelogue and a profoundly emotional memoir, Castles & Ruins celebrates the triumph of creative success while frankly appraising the often-terrible costs a family must pay for it.

About Nina Rayburn Dec

Nina Rayburn Dec is the host and executive producer of The Great Wonder podcast, which demystifies the creative process by exploring the journey to self through intimate conversations. With empathy as her guiding principle, Nina is deeply committed to amplifying the diverse voices and narratives that shape our collective history, from which we find connection and community. This focus is reflected in her career which spans audio journalism, documentary film, and fine art photography, with notable contributions to projects for public radio, The Smithsonian Institution, NBC Universal, The History Channel, and other major television networks.