Poets & Writers Theater

“Every community on earth should wish they had a Zora Hurston.” In this short 2008 New York Times documentary by Damien Cave and Diana Oliva Cave, locals of Eatonville, Florida discuss their relationship with renowned author Zora Neale Hurston and the impact she had in saving the town’s future.

“Is the woman in the pool of light / really reading or just staring / at what is written,” reads C. D. Wright from her poem “Lake Echo, Dear” in this reading at the 2008 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival. 

“Revelation never comes as a fern uncoiling / a frond in mist; it comes when I trip on a root, / slap a mosquito on my arm,” reads Arthur Sze from his poem "Earthshine" in this 2008 video for the Lunch Poems reading series at the University of California, Berkeley. Sze’s latest collection, The Glass Constellation: New and Collected Poems (Copper Canyon Press, 2021), is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“When I first saw him, I knew then: This was the master for me.” Aravind Adiga’s Man Booker Prize–winning novel, The White Tiger, has been adapted into a Netflix film directed by Ramin Bahrani. Starring Adarsh Gourav, Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and Rajkummar Rao, the film follows an ambitious driver in India who escapes poverty through deceptive acts.

“for the lingering / eyes of the children, staring...” In this video, the late poet Lucille Clifton reads “report from the angel of eden” and “sorrow song” at the 2008 Geraldine R. Dodge Poetry Festival.

Dublin Murders is a BBC television adaptation of the first two novels in Tana French’s Dublin Murder Squad mystery series, In the Woods (Viking, 2007) and The Likeness (Viking, 2008), which follows two detectives investigating homicides in contemporary Dublin. Adapted by Sarah Phelps, the eight-episode crime show stars Moe Dunford, Sarah Greene, Killian Scott, and Tom Vaughan-Lawlor.

In this interview, Susan Choi talks to Paul Peppis at the University of Oregon about her fifth novel, Trust Exercise (Henry Holt, 2019), her previous four novels, which include A Person of Interest (Viking, 2008) and My Education (Viking, 2013), writing Asian American characters, and her nonfiction work.

JT LeRoy is a biopic based on the book Girl Boy Girl: How I Became JT LeRoy (Seven Stories Press, 2008), Savannah Knoop’s memoir about her experience spending six years impersonating the celebrated author and literary persona of her sister-in-law Laura Albert. Directed by Justin Kelly, the film stars Laura Dern, Diane Kruger, Courtney Love, Kristen Stewart, and Jim Sturgess.

“The freedom an oak tree knows. / That is built at night by stars.” In this video, Linda Gregg reads “The Weight” and “Alone With the Goddess” from her poetry collection All of It Singing (Graywolf Press, 2008) at the 2006 Dodge Poetry Festival. Gregg died at the age of seventy-six on March 20, 2019.

Beautiful Boy is adapted from the memoirs Beautiful Boy: A Father’s Journey Through His Son’s Addiction (Houghton Mifflin, 2008) by David Sheff and Tweak: Growing Up on Methamphetamines (Antheneum Books for Young Readers, 2008) by Nic Sheff, and chronicles a family coping with addiction over many years. Starring Steve Carell, Timothée Chalamet, Amy Ryan, and Maura Tierney, the film is directed by Felix Van Groeningen.

The Man Who Invented Christmas (Crown, 2008), a biography by Les Standiford focusing on the events in 1843 that inspired Charles Dickens to write A Christmas Carol, has been adapted into a feature film. Directed by Bharat Nalluri, the film stars Christopher Plummer, Jonathan Pryce, and Dan Stevens.

Dan Stevens, who stars as Charles Dickens in The Man Who Invented Christmas, talks about researching Dickens’s life and learning more about his writing process for A Christmas Carol. Directed by Bharat Nalluri and costarring Christopher Plummer and Jonathan Pryce, the film is based on Les Standiford’s 2008 Dickens biography of the same name.

“Violence is part and parcel of country life.” Hillary Jordan’s debut novel, Mudbound (Algonquin Books, 2008), which won the 2006 Bellwether Prize, has been adapted into a feature film. Set in post–World War II in the Mississippi Delta, the film was directed and written by Dee Rees and stars Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, and Mary J. Blige.

“Honestly I think that the reason his head was in my brain was because of that hair metal band Tesla...” Samantha Hunt reveals the inspiration behind her second novel, The Invention of Everything Else (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008), which fictionalizes the last days of inventor and engineer Nikola Tesla’s life. Hunt’s first story collection, The Dark Dark (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017), is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“So why not / make a soup / of what’s left? Why / not boil & chop / something outside / the mind...” Kevin Young reads “Ode to Gumbo” from his poetry collection Dear Darkness (Knopf, 2008) at the Bowery Poetry Club in New York City.

“Artificial is the only way to fly.” In this 2013 video, Cyrus Console reads a selection of poems from his books The Odicy (Omnidawn, 2011) and Brief Under Water (Burning Deck, 2008). His first nonfiction book, Romanian Notebook (FSG Originals, 2017), is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

"What is it you think you did?" Watch the trailer for the film adaptation of Indignation (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008), one of Philip Roth's last books before his retirement as a novelist. The film is directed by James Schamus who also wrote the screenplay.

Patrick Phillips reads "Matinee" from his poetry collection Boy (University of Georgia Press, 2008) and speaks about what drew him to poetry. His latest book, Elegy for a Broken Machine (Knopf, 2015), is a finalist for the 2015 National Book Award.

"The days started getting dark earlier...the air had cooled noticeably, with the first carved pumpkins appearing in windows." Listen to novelist Charles Bock speak about and read from his first novel, Beautiful Children (Random House, 2008), for the Authors@Google series. Bock's latest novel, Alice & Oliver (Random House, 2016), is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

"I didn't have any intention of representing India accurately or inaccurately. I had a story in mind and I pursued the story ruthlessly." Karan Mahajan speaks about his debut novel, Family Planning (Harper Perennial, 2008), and the creative challenges faced by a new generation of Indian writers. His second novel, The Association of Small Bombs (Viking, 2016), is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.