Randy Boyagoda presents his latest novel, Dante’s Indiana, a riff on   Inferno set in contemporary Terre Haute, Indiana. Middle-aged, married, but living on his own, Prin has lost his way. Desperate for money and purpose, he moves to small-town Indiana to work for an evangelical millionaire who’s building a theme park inspired by Dante’s Inferno. He quickly becomes involved in the difficult lives of his co-workers and in the wider struggles of their opioid-ravaged community while trying to reconcile with his distant wife and distant God. Both projects spin out of control, and when a Black teenager is killed, creationists, politicians and protesters alike descend. In the midst of this American chaos, Prin risks everything to help the lost and angry souls around him while searching for his own way home. Following Original Prin, a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice and Globe and Mail Best Book, Dante’s Indiana is affecting and strange, intimate and big-hearted.

Randy Boyagoda talks about Dante’s Indiana with Sam Tanenhaus and Prin’s journey through the darkly divine comedies of our time.

About this event’s guests:
Randy Boyagoda
Sam Tanenhaus


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Author photo courtesy of Derek Shapton.

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Randy Boyagoda: Dante’s Indiana