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In this video, writers and book lovers—including Rumaan Alam, Ann Patchett, Jacqueline Woodson, Neil Gaiman, Mira Jacob, Benjamin Percy, and Peter Straub—help celebrate Independent Bookstore Day and the opening of Books Are Magic. The new bookstore is run by novelist Emma Straub and her husband Michael Fusco-Straub in Brooklyn.
“I wanted very much to write an accurate historical novel because I was so troubled about how hate can operate in our hearts.” Min Jin Lee introduces herself and talks about the impetus for her second novel, Pachinko (Grand Central Publishing, 2017), a story that follows four generations of a Korean immigrant family in twentieth-century Japan.
“In literature you get these magical moments when you can actually feel yourself to be somebody else...and those moments I think are incredibly important for the development of a society because they’re expansive moments.” Hisham Matar, winner of the 2017 Pulitzer Prize in autobiography for his debut memoir, The Return: Fathers, Sons and the Land in Between (Random House, 2016), talks about the role literature plays in creating social change.
The Circle (Knopf/McSweeney’s Books, 2013), Dave Eggers’s dystopian novel about a young woman who rises through the ranks of a powerful tech and social media company, has been adapted into a feature film. Directed by James Ponsoldt, the film stars John Boyega, Tom Hanks, and Emma Watson.
“War is coming.” Neil Gaiman’s novel American Gods (William Morrow, 2001) has been adapted into a television series starring Ian McShane as Mr. Wednesday and Ricky Whittle as Shadow Moon. Gaiman serves as an executive producer for the series developed by Bryan Fuller and Michael Green.
Herman Koch’s novel, The Dinner (Hogarth, 2012), translated from the Dutch by Sam Garrett, has been adapted into a feature film directed by Oren Moverman and starring Steve Coogan, Richard Gere, Rebecca Hall, and Laura Linney. The story unfolds over the course of a dinner as two couples struggle over moral implications surrounding a crime committed by their teenage sons.
Lesley Nneka Arimah reads “War Stories” from her debut story collection, What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky (Riverhead, 2017), which is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Min Kym talks about the life experiences that inspired her debut memoir, Gone: A Girl, a Violin, a Life Unstrung (Crown Publishing Group, 2017), and plays “Méditation” from the opera Thaïs composed by Jules Massenet on her violin. Kym’s book is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
“A single book can be a community.” In this video, Craig Morgan Teicher responds to the question, “What is your ideal reading experience?” His third poetry collection, The Trembling Answers (BOA Editions, 2017), is featured in Page One in the May/June 2017 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
In this video, Challis Popkey speaks with author Sarah Gerard about her novel, Binary Star (Two Dollar Radio, 2015), and her first essay collection, Sunshine State (Harper Perennial, 2017). Gerard’s debut essay collection is featured in Page One of the May/June 2017 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
