Poets & Writers Theater

In this Waterstones interview, R. F. Kuang talks about the idea of linguistic relativity in the ways language can shape people’s experience of the world, and how the loss of her grandmother inspired her latest novel, Taipei Story (William Morrow, 2026).

Watch the trailer for Klara and the Sun, a film adaptation of the 2021 novel of the same name by Nobel Prize–winning author Kazuo Ishiguro. Directed by Taika Waititi, the film stars Jenna Ortega as an “Artificial Friend” who is purchased by a mother (Amy Adams) for her ailing, heartbroken teenage daughter (Mia Tharia).

In this Politics and Prose event, Yiyun Li talks about her latest novel, Music Against the Night (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2026), and how art can sometimes be a way to shun life in a conversation with Rabih Alameddine. Li’s novel is featured in Page One in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this MacArthur Foundation video, poet Layli Long Soldier talks about the themes of kinship and community in her work, and her books WHEREAS (Graywolf Press, 2017) and We (Graywolf Press, 2026), which is featured in Page One in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this Brooklyn Public Library event, four poets read from their newest books: Tina Chang, author of Lion (Norton, 2026); Tishani Doshi, author of Egrets, While War (Copper Canyon Press, 2026); Nathalie Handal, author of Roma Roam (Barrow Street Press, 2026); and Erika Meitner, author of Assembled Audience (Milkweed Editions, 2026). Chang’s collection is featured in Page One in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this episode of the Memoir Nation podcast, hosts Brooke Warner and Grant Faulkner celebrate independent media in a conversation with Roxane Gay and Debbie Millman, who bought the literary magazine the Rumpus in 2025. For more on their new initiatives, read “Relaunching the Rumpus” by Ilana Masad in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this Poets & Writers event, 2026 Jackson Poetry Prize winner Marianne Boruch reads a selection of poems from her books Bestiary Dark (Copper Canyon Press, 2021); The Anti-Grief (Copper Canyon Press, 2019); and Cadaver, Speak (Copper Canyon Press, 2014); and joins Pádraig Ó Tuama for a conversation about the themes in her work.

Watch the trailer for The Librarians, a documentary directed by Kim A. Snyder which focuses on the escalating book bans in public libraries and the harassment, threats, and laws aimed at criminalizing the work of librarians and how they are rallying and standing up for the freedom to read. The film is screening in selected theaters throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe.

“It felt like the kind of book that you can only write when someone is either about to die or has died, which is the case for me.” In this Copper Canyon Press event, Paisley Rekdal reads from her poetry collection Heritance (Copper Canyon Press, 2026) and discusses grief, forgiveness, and lineage in a conversation with Michael Wiegers. For more from Rekdal, read her installation of our Ten Questions series.

For this Pioneer Works event, Ben Lerner talks about how the instability of dialogue informed his latest novel, Transcription (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2026), and the pros and cons of personal technology for youth growing up today in a conversation with New Yorker staff writer Alexandra Schwartz.

In this virtual reading and conversation, Poets & Writers Magazine senior editor India Lena González introduces the five debut authors featured in “The New Nonfiction 2026” in the September/October 2026 issue: Nita Noveno, Phill Branch, Megan O’Grady, Joseph Trinidad, and Elena Dudum.

Watch the trailer for the new film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility, directed by Georgia Oakley and starring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Esmé Creed-Miles, Caitríona Balfe, George MacKay, and Fiona Shaw.

In this WIRED interview with Katie Drummond, Emily St. John Mandel discusses how the current political climate in America informed the speculative catastrophe in her latest novel, Exit Party (Knopf, 2026), and shares how she connects her novels in what the New Yorker calls the “Mandel Cinematic Universe.”

In this Green Apple Books event, Black Ocean, a nonprofit independent publisher based in Boston and Chicago, celebrates its twentieth anniversary with readings from authors Carrie Olivia Adams, Kristin George Bagdanov, Nathan Hoks, and Zachary Schomburg.

In this episode of the Fashion Neurosis podcast hosted by Bella Freud, French Moroccan author and journalist Leïla Slimani talks about the dangers of gaining recognition as a writer, discovering the timelessness of literature through Dostoevsky and Tolstoy as a child, and what it means to dress like an intellectual.

In this Book Passage event, Téa Obreht reads from her fourth novel, Sunrise (Random House, 2026), and talks about her decision to write scene by scene without an outline, and her fascination with the American West after growing up in the former Yugoslavia in a conversation with Parini Shroff. “I think for me, the West has always occupied a really mythical space.”

In this episode of Literary Hub’s Fiction/Non/Fiction podcast cohosted by Christian Barter, Jennifer Maritza McCauley, and Whitney Terrell, author Claudia Rankine discusses how current political crises inspired her new book, Triage (Graywolf Press, 2026), which is featured in Page One in the September/October 2026 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this Politics and Prose event, Alysia Li Ying Sawchyn reads from their second essay collection, I Have This Thing for Flowers: Essays on the Roots of Relationships (Flatiron Books, 2026), and discusses how researching and writing about flowers helped structure their personal experiences in a conversation with Gabrielle Lucille Fuentes. Sawchyn’s book is featured in Page One in the September/October 2026 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this live episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast hosted by Miwa Messer, Ed Park reads from his hybrid memoir, Three Tenses: A Transmission From the Nineties (Random House, 2026), and reminisces about his time working as a literary editor at the Village Voice.

Produced by PBS American Masters and directed by Sasha Waters, this documentary celebrates the life and career of Pulitzer Prize–winning poet Mary Oliver, and interviews Steve Buscemi, Stephen Colbert, Lucy Dacus, Nick Flynn, Donika Kelly, and other artists who have been influenced by her work.