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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“It wasn’t fair that fish could see color, / and whales could not, but I was okay: I loved my new body. / I don’t know what kind of whale I was. In the ocean / there were no mirrors.” Emily Jungmin Yoon’s poem “The Transformation,” which appears in her debut collection, A Cruelty Special to Our Species (Ecco, 2018), has been adapted into a Motionpoems film directed by Malin Sandberg.
Tags: Poetry | The Transformation | Emily Jungmin Yoon | A Cruelty Special to Our Species | Ecco | 2018 | Motionpoems | video poem | short film -
Josh Malerman talks about writing novels while touring with his band, incorporating performance and radio play elements into his book readings, and the inspiration behind his debut novel, Bird Box (Ecco, 2014), in this video from the 2015 Midwest Literary Walk. The novel has been adapted into a feature film directed by Susanne Bier and starring Sandra Bullock, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, and Trevante Rhodes.
Tags: Fiction | Josh Malerman | Bird Box | Ecco | 2014 | interview | 2015 | Midwest Literary Walk -
Bird Box (Ecco, 2014), the debut novel by Josh Malerman has been adapted into a feature film. Directed by Susanne Bier, the psychological thriller film stars Sandra Bullock, John Malkovich, Sarah Paulson, and Trevante Rhodes and follows a woman and her two children as they traverse a post-apocalyptic landscape while blindfolded to escape an unseen, supernatural adversary.
Tags: Fiction | Bird Box | Josh Malerman | movie trailer | film adaptation | Netflix | Ecco | 2014 | 2018 -
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.
Tags: Fiction | The Miniaturist | Jessie Burton | Ecco | 2014 | television adaptation | trailer | PBS Masterpiece -
“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.
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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.
Tags: Fiction | The Sisters Brothers | Patrick deWitt | 2011 | Ecco | Man Booker Prize | movie trailer | film adaptation -
Robin MacArthur reads a love letter to her home state of Vermont for an episode of State of the Re:Union with music scored by Red Heart the Ticker, MacArthur’s band with her husband Tyler Gibbons. MacArthur’s debut novel, Heart Spring Mountain (Ecco, 2018), is featured in Page One in the January/February 2018 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tags: Fiction | Creative Nonfiction | Robin MacArthur | reading | NPR | State of the Re:Union | 2012 | Heart Spring Mountain | Ecco | 2018 | Page One | January/February 2018 -
In this video produced by the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering, professors and students weigh in on whether artificial intelligence has the capacity to write poetry. David St. John, author of The Last Troubadour: New and Selected Poems (Ecco, 2017), and Shakespeare scholar Bruce Smith speak on behalf of human poets.
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“It’s okay to be in flux and figure it out, and take your time to figure it out.” Follow iO Tillett Wright through the streets of New York City to Joshua Tree in California leading up to the launch of his debut memoir, Darling Days (Ecco, 2016).
Tags: Creative Nonfiction | iO Tillett Wright | Darling Days | memoir | Ecco | 2016 | Strand Book Store | The Front -
Alissa Nutting has a conversation with Dumbo Feather about her debut novel, Tampa (Ecco, 2013), and challenging gender representations in her writing. Nutting’s second novel, Made for Love (Ecco, 2017), is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tags: Fiction | Alissa Nutting | Tampa | Made for Love | Ecco | 2013 | 2017 | Dumbo Feather | Page One | July/August 2017 -
“What persuades in poetry, what moves, what transforms—and what is memorable—starts with music.” Jorie Graham talks about the importance of musicality and the influences of American modernist and English romantic poetry on her writing. Graham’s new collection, Fast (Ecco, 2017), is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Tags: Poetry | Jorie Graham | Fast | Ecco | 2017 | Page One | May/June 2017 | Big Think -
“I just really wanted my words back—it was the one thing I lost, and it was the one thing I wanted back.” In the book trailer for her debut memoir, Tell Me Everything You Don’t Remember: The Stroke That Changed My Life (Ecco, 2017), Christine Hyung-Oak Lee describes experiencing a stroke and how writing contributed to her recovery.
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“The earth was running out of resources, global warming was beginning to be recognized as science fact and not science fiction, and if man was to evolve to play a part in things...we'd have to seed life elsewhere—on Mars, to begin with.” At Politics and Prose Bookstore, T. C. Boyle reads from his latest novel, The Terranauts (Ecco, 2016).
Tags: Fiction | Ecco | Politics and Prose Bookstore | T. C. Boyle | The Terranauts | reading | 2016 -
“The kids were as close to feral as you can get, like animals dressed up in camouflage jumpsuits.” Kevin Wilson, whose second novel, Perfect Little World (Ecco, 2017), is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, reads his short story "An Arc Welder, a Molotov Cocktail, a Bowie Knife."
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"It's sort of weird, being honored for the worst day of your life." Watch the trailer for the film adaptation of Ben Fountain's novel Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk (Ecco, 2012), a finalist for the National Book Award and winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award. The film is directed by Ang Lee with a screenplay by Jean-Christophe Castelli.
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Rumaan Alam reads from his short story "A Certainty" at an event for the Center for Fiction's literary magazine, The Literarian, alongside Terese Svoboda and Sigrid Nunez. Alam is featured in "First Fiction 2016" in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine and reads from his debut novel, Rich and Pretty (Ecco, 2016), on Ampersand: The Poets & Writers Podcast.
Tags: Ecco | reading | Center for Fiction | Ampersand | 2013 | Terese Svoboda | short story | 2016 | First Fiction 2016 | July/August 2016 | Rumaan Alam | A Certainty | The Literarian | Sigrid Nunez | Rich and Pretty | Fiction -
"We can't fix them, we can only fix ourselves." In this film adaptation of Kevin Wilson's best-selling novel The Family Fang (Ecco, 2011), Nicole Kidman and Jason Bateman star as siblings dealing with their aging artist parents. Kidman, also a producer of the film, optioned the book and recruited playwright David Lindsay-Abaire to write the screenplay.
Tags: Ecco | movie trailer | 2011 | film adaptation | Kevin Wilson | The Family Fang | Fiction -
"Your life is your life. / know it while you have it. / you are marvelous / the gods wait to delight / in you." In this short film, Charles Bukowski's poem "The Laughing Heart," from his poetry and story collection Betting on the Muse (Ecco, 2002), is read by Tom Waits and animated by Bradley Bell.
Tags: Ecco | animation | Charles Bukowski | 2002 | Betting on the Muse | Tom Waits | Bradley Bell | Poetry -
Stephanie Powell Watts talks to Mary Laura Philpott of A Word on Words about how her debut novel, No One Is Coming to Save Us (Ecco, 2017), is just like The Great Gatsby except totally different, and why honest criticism is necessary for a writer.
Tags: Fiction | Stephanie Powell Watts | A Word on Words | No One Is Coming to Save Us | Ecco | 2017 | The Great Gatsby | interview | writing advice -
In this Motionpoems film, Matthew Zapruder’s poem “Albert Einstein,” from his collection Sun Bear (Copper Canyon Press, 2014), is animated by John Akre. Zapruder’s most recent book, Why Poetry (Ecco, 2017), explores what poems are and how all readers can enjoy them.
Tags: Poetry | Matthew Zapruder | animation | Motionpoems | Albert Einstein | Sun Bear | Copper Canyon Press | 2014 | Why Poetry | Ecco | 2017