Poets & Writers Theater

“I’m always sort of looking for the hidden story or the thing that’s been forgotten.” Esi Edugyan speaks about the influence that libraries have had on her work as a writer for Canadian Heritage’s Portraits 150 series. Edugyan’s third novel, Washington Black (Serpent’s Tail, 2018), is shortlisted for the 2018 Man Booker Prize.

In the new HBO television show Miss Sherlock, both the characters of Sherlock Holmes and Watson from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s original detective series have been reimagined as women. The network’s first Japanese-language series is set in modern-day Tokyo and stars Yuko Takeuchi as Sara “Sherlock” Shelly Futaba and Shihori Kanjiya as Dr. Wato Tachibana.

The Miniaturist (Ecco, 2014), Jessie Burton’s debut novel revolving around a mysterious dollhouse in seventeenth-century Amsterdam, has been adapted into a three-part television miniseries for Masterpiece on PBS. Directed by Guillem Morales, the series stars Emily Berrington, Romola Garai, Alex Hassell, Hayley Squires, and Anya Taylor-Joy.

“He wanted to send her and their unborn child halfway around the world to Perfume Bay, five-star accommodations located outside of Los Angeles.” Vanessa Hua reads from her debut novel, A River of Stars (Ballantine Books, 2018), for the ZYZZYVA reading series at Booksmith bookstore in San Francisco.

“You’re writing in total isolation. It’s like getting dressed in the dark, the complete dark, and then you have to go out on stage.” On Late Night With Seth Meyers, Rebecca Makkai discusses what it feels like to publish a book, the research behind her new novel, The Great Believers (Viking, 2018), and why she enjoys teaching MFA students. The Great Believers is longlisted for the 2018 National Book Award in fiction.

Bel Canto, the award-winning novel by Ann Patchett, has been adapted into a feature film directed by Paul Weitz. Julianne Moore stars as Roxanne Coss, an opera singer who is held hostage after she performs a private concert at a birthday party for a wealthy Japanese businessman, played by Ken Watanabe.

“I grew up reading a gigantic compendium of all the Grimm’s fairy tales, and also fairy tales originating from other parts of the world....” Singaporean author Sharlene Teo talks with Manchester Literature Festival’s Naomi Frisby about the inspiration behind her debut novel, Ponti (Simon & Schuster, 2018), the work of writers Guy Gunaratne and Nikesh Shukla, and her fascination with ideas of beauty, superficiality, and artifice.

In this humorous video, Gary Shteyngart receives dubious feedback on his fourth novel, Lake Success (Random House, 2018), from “Sean, the World’s Worst Editor,” which includes inserting a laugh track into the book, holding book signings in an actual lake, and changing Shteyngart’s last name. Lake Success is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“Everybody feels ashamed when they write. It’s a shameful practice.” In this 2018 interview with Louisiana Channel, Zadie Smith, author most recently of Swing Time (Penguin Press, 2016), discusses the positive aspects of shame and how it can be productive for the writing process.

“It was sad. I would rather talk to my idea of a person, a fantasy ghost-person that existed only in my imagination, than talk with my own parents.” Patty Yumi Cottrell, author of Sorry to Disrupt the Peace (McSweeney’s, 2017) and a recipient of a 2018 Whiting Award in fiction, reads from her essay “My Abyss.”

Lesley Nneka Arimah speaks about investigating “the ways in which our past traumas inform our present selves” through her writing, and answers questions from readers about her debut story collection, What It Means When a Man Falls From the Sky (Riverhead Books, 2017), for PBS NewsHour’s Now Read This book club, a partnership with the New York Times.

My Brilliant Friend (Europa Editions, 2012), the first novel in the Neapolitan Quartet by Elena Ferrante, translated from the Italian by Ann Goldstein, has been adapted into HBO’s first foreign-language series. Directed by Saverio Costanzo, the eight-episode miniseries stars Elisa Del Genio, Gaia Girace, Margherita Mazzucco, and Ludovica Nasti.

The Wife (Scribner, 2003), Meg Wolitzer’s novel about a devoted wife looking back on life choices and sacrifices as her husband is awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature, has been adapted into a feature film. Directed by Björn Runge, the film stars Glenn Close, Max Irons, Elizabeth McGovern, Jonathan Pryce, and Christian Slater.

“Jeff Park’s living room was as palatial as the entrance to a modest New York museum.” Gary Shteyngart reads an excerpt from his fourth novel, Lake Success (Random House, 2018), at the University of Washington’s Stroum Center for Jewish Studies. Lake Success is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“One Halloween night, a distraught young woman named Harriet stopped midway across the Brooklyn Bridge…” In this animated short film, Fiona Davis, author of The Masterpiece (Dutton, 2018), narrates her seven-sentence story, “Girl on the Bridge.”

“I plot beforehand to the extent that I have an idea of where I’m going, but I’m always willing to toss that out the window...” Stephen Markley talks about his start as a writer, his writing habits, and the publication of his first novel, Ohio (Simon & Schuster, 2018), which is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Nick Hornby’s Juliet, Naked (Riverhead Books, 2009), a novel about a couple whose relationship is altered by a reclusive singer-songwriter’s album, has been adapted into a film. Directed by Jesse Peretz, the film stars Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke, and Chris O’Dowd.

“It was the first time that literature felt personal, relevant, urgent....” Laura van den Berg talks about the transformative experience of reading contemporary fiction and short stories during her first writing workshop in college. Van den Berg’s second novel, The Third Hotel (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018), is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this video, V. S. Naipaul accepts the 2001 Nobel Prize in Literature and reads his speech at the Nobel Banquet in Stockholm. Described by the Swedish Academy as “a literary circumnavigator,” the prolific author published more than a dozen novels and several nonfiction books. Naipaul died at the age of eighty-five on August 11, 2018.

“I really think these characters were with me twenty years before I wrote the book.” In this video for A Word on Words, Ron Rash speaks about the inspiration for his latest novel, The Risen (Ecco, 2016), which centers around a murder in a small North Carolina town in the 1960s.