New York University

A memorial service for David Foster Wallace was held on Thursday, October 23 at New York University. Speakers included:

• Don DeLillo
• George Saunders
• Zadie Smith
• Jonathan Franzen
• Donald Antrim
• Bonnie Nadell, Wallace's agent
• editors Michael Pietsch, Gerry Howard
• Colin Harrison, editor at Harper's Magazine
• Deborah Treisman, fiction editor at The New Yorker
• Amy Wallace Havens, Wallace's sister
• Mark Costello, friend and novelist

Speakers discussed Wallace's life and read excerpts from his work, including Infinite Jest, Girl with Curious Hair, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men, and Oblivion: Stories.

Memorable quotes:

• “I understood that he had given me a gift. The gift was courage. He told me not to be afraid.” -Donald Antrim
• "I throw like a boy who would rather be reading Kafka." -Amy Wallace Havens
• "Youth and loss. This is Dave's voice. American." -Don DeLillo
• "[Dave used] details as a way of letting out the bottled love in his heart." -Jonathan Franzen

New York Times article on the memorial service