Theater video tags: Knopf

Amy Tan on Birds and Writing

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“Some people say fiction is all a lie. To me, fiction is one of the best ways we can learn truth.” In this Unban Coolies interview, Amy Tan talks about the importance of observation in her writing, identity and biodiversity, and how her interest in bird conversation inspired her new book, The Backyard Bird Chronicles (Knopf, 2024), which is featured in “The Written Image” in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Gregory Pardlo in Conversation With Imani Perry

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“To make ancestors whole is to imagine, collectively, publicly, who they were and what their experiences were like.” In this New York Public Library event, former Cullman Center fellow and Pulitzer Prize–winning author Gregory Pardlo discusses the themes within his latest poetry collection, Spectral Evidence (Knopf, 2024), and talks about interrogating the present-day erasure of Black history in a conversation with Imani Perry.

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Kaveh Akbar on Martyr!

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In this PBS NewsHour video, Kaveh Akbar speaks about writing his first novel, Martyr! (Knopf, 2024), and how pop culture as well as Persian and contemporary literature mix into the narrative in an interview with Jeffrey Brown. The novel is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

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Tommy Orange at the Chicago Public Library

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In this One Book, One Chicago event, Tommy Orange discusses the importance of Native American voices, the intricate plotlines of his debut novel, There There (Knopf, 2018), and the historical roots of his forthcoming novel, Wandering Stars, in a conversation with Donna Seaman at the Chicago Public Library.

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Ayana Mathis in Conversation With Angela Flournoy

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“There’s nobody left here now. Cows. Graves. Me. There’s not but a thousand acres of Bonaparte left between us.” In this virtual City Lights LIVE event, Ayana Mathis reads from her new novel, The Unsettled (Knopf, 2023), and speaks about finding her compass again after the success of her debut book and the need for quiet and privacy to develop characters in a conversation with author Angela Flournoy.

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Jhumpa Lahiri on Self-Translation

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“It’s very disconcerting to translate oneself, but it’s a kind of pure contact with the work you make.” In this event welcoming Jhumpa Lahiri as the new Director of Creative Writing at Barnard College, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author reads from her new collection, Roman Stories (Knopf, 2023), translated from the Italian by the author and Todd Portnowitz, and joins Brandon Taylor for a conversation about her work.

John Updike on The Early Stories

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“I saw a writer who was quite new to the craft, but excited by it, and sort of experimental, and there’s a freshness to these stories that surprised me.” In this 2003 PBS NewsHour interview, renowned author and critic John Updike speaks about looking back on his early career and the stories included in his collection The Early Stories: 1953-1975 (Knopf, 2003) with correspondent Jeffrey Brown.

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For What Binds Us

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In this 2009 reading filmed at the Dodge Poetry Festival, Jane Hirshfield reads her poem “For What Binds Us,” which is included in her latest collection, The Asking: New and Selected Poems, forthcoming in September from Knopf. A profile of Hirshfield by Danusha Laméris is featured in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

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Lorrie Moore in Conversation With Lauren Groff

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In this U.S. Embassy Berlin Literature Series event, Lorrie Moore reads from her novel I Am Homeless if This Is Not My Home (Knopf, 2023), which is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, and joins author Lauren Groff to speak about first drafts and techniques for establishing the interior voice in a novel.

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Martin Amis on Inside Story

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“Don’t waste your life reading stuff that isn’t giving you pleasure.” In this 2020 CBS Mornings interview with cohost Jeff Glor, novelist Martin Amis talks candidly about his deep friendships with writers, grief and death, and his autobiographical novel Inside Story (Knopf, 2020). Amis died at the age of seventy-three on May 19, 2023.

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