Matt Gallagher has emerged in the past decade as one of literature’s most distinctive and perceptive voices on the Iraq War. As an Army platoon leader nine years ago, he wrote about the conflict in a candid blog called Kaboom that his superiors ultimately shut down. It became the basis for a memoir, Kaboom: Embracing the Suck in a Savage Little War, and Gallagher followed with an acclaimed debut novel revolving around the war last February. The New York Times called the book, Youngblood, “urgent and deeply moving.”
 
The New York author joins local novelist and Writers at Work series organizer Whitney Terrell in a public conversation about his experiences and his work.
 
The Writers at Work series is co-sponsored by the Writers at Work Round Table and the UMKC English Department, where Terrell is an assistant professor.