Poets & Writers Theater

In this video, Jennifer Baker, editor of the short story anthology Everyday People: The Color of Life (Atria Books, 2018), speaks with Nana Brew-Hammond about her story “Wisdom.” The anthology is a collective of work by established and emerging writers of color, including Mia Alvar, Alexander Chee, and Mitchell S. Jackson. 

“Look at us growing up. Who will we be?” We the Animals (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011), Justin Torres’s debut novel, has been adapted into a film directed and cowritten by Jeremiah Zagar. Starring Raúl Castillo, Sheila Vand, and Evan Rosado, the film follows Jonah, growing up with his brothers and escaping into a fantasy world to cope with his volatile home life.

“What isn’t twisted and dark? Look around! Twisted and dark means new and interesting.” Ottessa Moshfegh speaks with Vintage Books about dark comedy in writing, the difference between art and entertainment, and why she writes about the female body. Moshfegh is the author of My Year of Rest and Relaxation (Penguin Press, 2018), which is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Sharp Objects (Shaye Areheart Books, 2006), Gillian Flynn’s debut novel about a reporter who returns to her hometown to investigate a series of murders, has been adapted into an HBO television miniseries. Created by Marti Noxon and directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, the series stars Amy Adams, Patricia Clarkson, Matt Craven, Chris Messina, and Elizabeth Perkins.

In a craft talk at the Center for Fiction in New York City, A. M. Homes discusses the value of having a writing routine, how she approaches novels and short stories differently, and her fascination with Barbie. Homes is the author of Days of Awe (Viking, 2018), which is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“I just hope that people get an updated version of what Native people are, and what we can be.” Tommy Orange discusses his debut novel, There There (Knopf, 2018), prologues, and tackling misperceptions of Native people in his writing on CTV’S Your Morning. Orange is featured in “First Fiction 2018” in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this video from Open Road Media, authors Samuel R. Delany and N. K. Jemisin and literary agent Merrilee Heifetz speak about the late Octavia E. Bulter, who in 1995 became the first science fiction writer to win a “Genius” grant from the MacArthur Foundation. “Her stories really weren’t about aliens.... they were about people,” says Jemisin.

“This book is very much about climate change…the collision between the human in nature, between internal and external, between domesticity and the wild.” Lauren Groff speaks about her short story collection Florida (Riverhead Books, 2018) with Rich Fahle of PBS Books at the 2018 AWP Annual Conference & Book Fair in Tampa. “Severe Weather in the Sunshine State,” a profile of Groff by Bethane Patrick, is in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Fatima Farheen Mirza speaks about the inspiration for her debut novel, A Place for Us, the first title to be published by Sarah Jessica Parker’s imprint at Hogarth. Mirza is featured in “First Fiction 2018” in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“I wanted writing to be something that involved relationships with other people.” Rachel Cusk talks about her experience teaching creative writing at Kingston University in London. Cusk’s novel Kudos (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2018), which is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, is the third volume in the trilogy that began with Outline (Picador, 2016).

“Justin used to think the trees were God. But today, right here, he thinks the ocean might be God. All that power and weakness, spread out for us to see.” Silas House reads from his fifth novel, Southernmost (Algonquin Books, 2018), which is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“I’m very fascinated by people on thresholds....” Dorthe Nors talks about her writing interests, short stories versus novels, and the differences between the Danish and English languages with Rosie Goldsmith at the 2016 European Literature Festival in London. Nors’s fourth novel, Mirror, Shoulder, Signal (Graywolf Press, 2018), translated from the Danish by Misha Hoekstra, is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“I’m always too busy, the law can take over your life.” Emma Thompson plays eminent High Court judge Fiona Maye in the film adaptation of The Children Act (Nan A. Talese, 2014) by Ian McEwan, who also wrote the screenplay. Directed by Richard Eyre, the film also stars Stanley Tucci and Fionn Whitehead.

The Sisters Brothers (Ecco, 2011), Patrick deWitt’s Booker-nominated picaresque western novel about two assassin brothers during the California Gold Rush, has been adapted into a feature film. Directed by Jacques Audiard, the film stars Riz Ahmed, Jake Gyllenhaal, Rutger Hauer, Carol Kane, Joaquin Phoenix, and John C. Reilly.

“Don’t worry about whether you’re writing anything, worry about if you’re sitting there attempting to write something or not.” Mohsin Hamid speaks to Granta about his most recent novel, Exit West (Riverhead Books, 2017), the job of being a writer, and what he has learned from Douglas Adams.

Melissa Broder, author of the debut novel, The Pisces (Hogarth, 2018), talks about changes in her writing process, astrology, unlikeable female protagonists, and writing about “the way things that we desire can kill us.”

Bill Gates shares his annual summer reading list, which includes Walter Isaacson’s biography Leonardo da Vinci (Simon & Schuster, 2017) and George Saunders’s novel, Lincoln in the Bardo (Random House, 2017).

“The main advice I would have is to be really easy on yourself, to shut off as much as you can the voice that’s saying maybe you’re wasting your time, and maybe everything that you do is stupid.” Elif Batuman, a finalist for the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for her debut novel, The Idiot (Penguin Press, 2017), talks to Granta about the literary model of Charles M. Schulz’s Snoopy and the blurred boundary between fiction and nonfiction.

On Chesil Beach is a film adaptation of a 2007 novel by Ian McEwan, who also wrote the screenplay. Directed by Dominic Cooke, the movie explores the relationship of a young couple, played by Saoirse Ronan and Billy Howle, on the day they are wed.

“We’re hoping to start a conversation and get people to fall in love with novels again.” In this eight-part PBS series hosted by Meredith Vieira, a list of one hundred of America’s best-loved novels are tabulated based on a nationwide vote and revealed through interviews with celebrities, authors, and book lovers.