AfterWord Residency: Author Melissa Broder in conversation with Artist Courtney Ozaki-Durgin

This is a two-part evening held at two locations, both within 3 minutes walking distance of each other. We hope you attend both. Special thanks to Union Station and Union Hall for their partnership... This is a two-part evening held at two locations, both within 3 minutes walking distance of each other. We hope you attend both. Special thanks to Union Station and Union Hall for their partnership and support of literature and the arts! About the Program When literature meets art, a story finds new ways to unfold. AfterWord is a series that explores what happens when a story moves beyond the page. At each gathering, an author meets an artist from another creative discipline to reimagine literature through sound, movement, image, and conversation. For this edition, author Melissa Broder joins creative producer and interdisciplinary artist Courtney Ozaki-Durgin for an evening where literature and immersive performance meet. Part One — Author Conversation & Discussion 6:30 PM | Lower Level, Denver Union Station | 1701 Wynkoop St, Denver, CO 80202 Broder will discuss her novel Death Valley — a darkly funny and surreal story of a writer who escapes to the desert seeking solitude, only to find herself confronting grief, desire, and the strange expansiveness of the natural world. Blending existential reflection with Broder's signature wit and magical realism, the novel explores what it means to search for meaning in moments of disorientation and transformation. In conversation with Ozaki-Durgin, the two will explore themes of landscape, interiority, and imagination. Part Two — Immersive Installation & Reception 7:55 PM | Union Hall | 1750 Wewatta St, Suite 144, Denver, CO 80202 The evening continues at Union Hall with an immersive live performance installation and reception created by Courtney Ozaki-Durgin. Check in at an inconspicuous Best Western motel in Death Valley and travel through the magically real memories of Broder's quirky protagonist as she navigates grief and mortality on an unexpected journey through the Mojave Desert. This experiential installation expands the novel's emotional terrain beyond the page — and the reception is woven right into the experience. 📚 Book signing with Melissa Broder will take place during Part Two. Books provided by Petals and Pages. Getting from Part One to Part Two It's just a 3–5 minute walk. From the back of Union Station (near the Wewatta Pavilion or commuter train tracks), walk northwest toward Chestnut Street and cross over. Union Hall is on the ground floor at 1750 Wewatta St, Suite 144, just next to the Wewatta Street Plaza behind the station About the Speakers Melissa Broder is the author of the novels Death Valley, Milk Fed, and The Pisces, the essay collection So Sad Today, and five poetry collections, including Superdoom: Selected Poems and Last Sext. Her books are translated in over twelve languages. Broder has written for The New York Times, Elle, Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue Italia, Bon Appetit, VICE, and New York Magazine. Poems appear in POETRY, The Iowa Review, Guernica, Fence, et al. She is the winner of a Pushcart Prize for poetry. Broder received her BA from Tufts University and her MFA from City College of New York. She lives in Los Angeles. Courtney Ozaki-Durgin is a creative producer, storyteller, and designer of interdisciplinary work at the intersection of cultural inheritance, magical realism, and social justice. Her original works include ZOTTO: A Supernatural Japanese Folktale, Inheritance Kitchen, The Library, and Tamiko and the Magical Violin. She previously served as Creative Producer for the Denver Center for the Performing Arts Off Center, where she supported U.S. and regional premieres and helped develop new work that placed audiences at the center of the story. Ozaki Durgin is also founder of the Japanese Arts Network, a national resource advancing Japanese artists and culture in America, and a professional taiko artist. She was named a 2025 American Theatre Magazine theatre maker to know in Denver and currently serves on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors for the Western Arts Alliance. Her community leadership has been recognized with the 2024 JEDI Denver Mayor’s Award for Excellence in Arts and Culture, the 2023 CU Denver College of Arts and Media Distinguished Alumni Award, and the 2025 Asian American Heroes of Colorado Award from the Colorado Asian Culture and Education Network.