Poets & Writers Theater
Every day we share a new clip of interest to creative writers—author readings, book trailers, publishing panels, craft talks, and more. So grab some popcorn, filter the theater tags by keyword or genre, and explore our sizable archive of literary videos.
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“The correct line has that kind of ring of rightness to it. It’s like it’s always been there.” In this Merriam-Webster video, Celeste Ng talks about the sonic, literal, and emotional levels of words and reviews some choices made in her third novel, Our Missing Hearts (Penguin Press, 2022), with playwright Eboni Booth.
Tags: Fiction | Celeste Ng | Our Missing Hearts | Penguin Press | Merriam-Webster | Eboni Booth | writing process | 2023 -
“I think the thing that you feel when you get to the right word is that you’ve found the answer to a question.” In this short video, author Gabrielle Zevin walks through parts of her novel Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow (Knopf, 2022) and discusses her word choices with John Sabine, social director for Merriam-Webster.
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In this 2023 event co-presented by Bellevue Literary Review at the Center for Fiction, Jayne Anne Phillips reads from her Pulitzer Prize–winning novel, Night Watch (Knopf, 2023), and discusses setting her story during the Civil War in West Virginia in a conversation with editor Danielle Ofri. “History gives us the facts, but literature tells us the story,” says Phillips. “The characters access the meaning of history for us.”
Tags: Fiction | Jayne Anne Phillips | Night Watch | Knopf | 2023 | Center for Fiction | Bellevue Literary Review | Pulitzer Prize | 2024 -
“If I must die, / you must live / to tell my story…” In this video filmed for the Palestine Festival of Literature, actor Brian Cox reads “If I Must Die” by the late Palestinian poet and English literature professor Refaat Alareer, who died after an Israeli airstrike on Gaza on December 6, 2023. Alareer’s posthumous book of the same name will be published in September by OR Books.
Tags: Poetry | Refaat Alareer | If I Must Die | Palestine Festival of Literature | Brian Cox | reading | in memoriam | 2023 | OR Books -
In this video, South Korean poet Kim Hyesoon reads with her longtime translator Don Mee Choi, both sharing their work and speaking about their writing and collaboration with Susan Bernofsky, director of Literary Translation at Columbia University. Choi’s latest poetry collection, Mirror Nation (Wave Books, 2024), is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tags: Poetry | Translation | Kim Hyesoon | Don Mee Choi | Columbia University | reading | 2023 | Page One | May/June 2024 -
Rebecca Makkai discusses her newest novel, I Have Some Questions for You (Viking, 2023), and talks about spectacles of violence in media and what makes a good mystery in a conversation with journalist Rachael Brown for this 2023 Wheeler Centre event in Melbourne, including an introductory reading by playwright and novelist Suzie Miller.
Tags: Fiction | Rebecca Makkai | I Have Some Questions for You | Viking | Wheeler Centre | Rachael Brown | 2023 -
In this 2023 Charleston Literary Festival event, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Paul Harding talks to Geoffrey Harpham about his latest novel, This Other Eden (Norton, 2023), which is inspired by the true story of Malaga Island, home to one of the first racially integrated towns in the American Northeast.
Tags: Fiction | Paul Harding | This Other Eden | Norton | Geoffrey Harpham | Edoardo Ballerini | Charleston Literary Festival | 2023 -
In this Family Action Network event, Ross Gay reads from his latest essay collection, The Book of (More) Delights (Algonquin Books, 2023), and speaks about the practice of writing short essays and playing basketball in a conversation with poet and editor Adrian Matejka.
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Ling Ma reads from her short story “Tomorrow,” which appears in her collection, Bliss Montage (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022), in this 2023 video from the Windham-Campbell Prizes Festival where she was awarded a prize in fiction.
Tags: Fiction | Ling Ma | Bliss Montage | short story | Windham-Campbell Prize | Windham-Campbell Prize Festival | reading | 2023 -
In this 2023 virtual event hosted by City Lights Bookstore, Emily Luan, author of 回 / Return (Nightboat Books, 2023), and Brandon Shimoda, author of Hydra Medusa (Nightboat Books, 2023), read from their poetry collections and discuss themes of memory, mourning, and migration in their writing.
Tags: Poetry | Emily Luan | 回 / Return | Brandon Shimoda | Hydra Medusa | Nightboat Books | Peter Maravelis | City Lights Live | reading | 2023 -
“I was really curious about how this fear of impending loss affects people.” In this 2023 LIVE From NYPL event, C Pam Zhang reads from her second novel, Land of Milk and Honey (Riverhead Books, 2023), and discusses grief, natural disasters, and apocalypse in a conversation with author and television host Padma Lakshmi.
Tags: Fiction | C Pam Zhang | Land of Milk and Honey | Riverhead Books | Padma Lakshmi | LIVE From NYPL | 2023 -
“The reason I’m so terrified of what’s happening around me is because I’m so in love with the world.” In this 2023 Lost City Books virtual event, Franny Choi reads from their latest poetry collection, The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On (Ecco, 2023), and discusses the futurist politics of poetry, the present need for Black and Asian solidarity, and the battle between hope and despair in a conversation with Danez Smith.
Tags: Poetry | Franny Choi | The World Keeps Ending, and the World Goes On | Ecco | Lost City Books | Danez Smith | reading | conversation | 2023 -
In this event celebrating Sandra Cisneros, winner of the 2023 Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation’s Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award, the author reads from her latest poetry collection, Woman Without Shame (Knopf, 2022), and speaks about her writing career with Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.
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In this 2023 London Review of Books event, Emily Wilson reads from and discusses her translation of The Iliad by Homer, published in September by Norton, and how she wishes to present Homer to a new generation in a conversation with classicist and historian Edith Hall. Passages from Wilson’s translation are also read by actors Tobias Menzies and Juliet Stevenson.
Tags: Poetry | Translation | Emily Wilson | Homer | The Iliad | London Review of Books | Edith Hall | Greek | discussion | reading | 2023 -
In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast hosted by Miwa Messer, author Rachel Heng discusses her latest novel, The Great Reclamation (Riverhead Books, 2023), and talks about writing fiction that is both historical and speculative, and how she uses notecards to organize writing her gargantuan novels.
Tags: Fiction | Rachel Heng | The Great Reclamation | Riverhead Books | 2023 | Miwa Messer | Poured Over | podcast | discussion -
Joshua Burton reads from his debut poetry collection, Grace Engine (University of Wisconsin Press, 2023), for this Splice Poetry Series reading at the Saturn Bar in New Orleans with poet Nikki Ummel. Burton is featured in “Performing the Future: Our Nineteenth Annual Look at Debut Poets” in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
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At this Booksmith event in San Francisco, Ed Park reads from his latest novel, Same Bed Different Dreams (Random House, 2023), and discusses the complexities of twentieth-century Korean history, the research that goes into historical fiction, and the role of Korean poet Yi Sang in his book in a conversation with Natalie So.
Tags: Fiction | Ed Park | Same Bed Different Dreams | Random House | Booksmith | reading | Natalie So | 2023 -
In this virtual reading celebrating Carolina Hotchandani’s debut collection, The Book Eaters (Perugia Press, 2023), special guest poets Jennifer K. Sweeney, Lynne Thompson, and Catherine Barnett read a selection of poems and join in on a conversation about craft and writing. Hotchandani is featured in “Performing the Future: Our Nineteenth Annual Look at Debut Poets” in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
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In this 2023 Green Apple Books event, Sally Wen Mao reads from her third poetry collection, The Kingdom of Surfaces (Graywolf Press, 2023), and discusses the history of Chinese women in America, the influence of Anne Anlin Cheng’s book Ornamentalism, and the urgent need for Asian literary imagination in a conversation with Cathy Park Hong.
Tags: Poetry | Sally Wen Mao | The Kingdom of Surfaces | Green Apple Books | Graywolf Press | reading | Cathy Park Hong | 2023 -
Amanda Gunn speaks about her debut poetry collection, Things I Didn’t Do With This Body (Copper Canyon Press, 2023), in this installment of the Line / Break series hosted by Copper Canyon Press publicist Ryo Yamaguchi. Gunn is featured in “Performing the Future: Our Nineteenth Annual Look at Debut Poets” in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.