Poets & Writers Theater

In this Spring 2026 Book and Author Festival virtual event hosted by Penguin Random House, Library Journal, and School Library Journal, Edwidge Danticat, author of Dèy (Knopf, 2026), Andrew Sean Greer, author of Villa Coco (Doubleday, 2026), and Ruth Ozeki, author of The Typing Lady: And Other Fictions (Viking, 2026), talk about their new books with librarian Jen Jumba.

In this virtual interview, Griffin Poetry Prize trustee Ian Williams speaks with poet Kevin Young about how Dante’s Divine Comedy inspired his collection Night Watch (Knopf, 2025), for which he won the 2026 international Griffin Poetry Prize.

In this Green Apple Books event, Will Brewer, author of Nocturama (Milkweed Editions, 2026), and Richie Hofmann, author of The Bronze Arms (Knopf, 2026), read from their latest poetry collections and discuss what they have learned from each other as poets and friends.

Tayari Jones discusses her new novel, Kin (Knopf, 2026), and the history she uncovered in her research for the book in a conversation with Jill Cox-Cordova, former Library Journal editor, for this virtual event of the Penguin Random House Winter Book and Author Festival. For more from Jones, read her installment of our Ten Questions series.

In this event hosted by Prince George’s County Memorial Library System and the Office of Human Rights, Julian Brave NoiseCat talks about how his father’s experiences at a segregated boarding school in Canada inspired his debut book, We Survived the Night (Knopf, 2025), and about the importance of oral storytelling, family stories, and ancestral myths. NoiseCat is featured in “The New Nonfiction 2025” in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this CBS Mornings segment with cohost Gayle King, Oprah Winfrey announces her latest book club pick, A Guardian and a Thief (Knopf, 2025), and speaks with author Megha Majumbar about the themes of her novel and how becoming a parent changed how she viewed her characters. Read Majumbar’s installment of our Ten Questions series.

In this Politics and Prose event, Kevin Young reads from his latest poetry collection, Night Watch (Knopf, 2025), and discusses the importance of place, both for his life and his writing, in a conversation with Steve Lickteig. Night Watch is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this Poets House event, Garrett Hongo reads from his fourth poetry collection, Ocean of Clouds (Knopf, 2025), and Edward Hirsch reads from his new memoir, My Childhood in Pieces: A Stand-Up Comedy, a Skokie Elegy (Knopf, 2025), followed by a conversation between the authors about their friendship and humor.

In this AM Northwest interview with host Helen Raptis, author Melissa Febos speaks about her fourth memoir, The Dry Season: A Memoir of Pleasure in a Year Without Sex (Knopf, 2025), and what she learned from taking a step away from romantic relationships. Febos’s book is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this Late Night With Seth Meyers interview, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie discusses the process of writing Dream Count (Knopf, 2025), her first novel in ten years, and how turning to poetry and the memories of her mother inspired her. “I have always felt that poetry nurtures your language and I read it to remind me of the magic of language,” she says.

In this Knopf video, John Nathan speaks about his translation process, his personal relationship with Yukio Mishima, and the historical context of Voices of the Fallen Heroes: And Other Stories (Vintage, 2025), a newly published collection of Mishima’s work with an introduction by Nathan, edited by Stephen Dodd.

In this Poets & Writers event, Karen Russell reads from her new novel, The Antidote (Knopf, 2025), and joins frequent Poets & Writers Magazine contributor Brian Gresko for a discussion on the Dust Bowl research that went into the book and the competing histories of the so-called American Dream of westward expansion. A profile of Russell by Gresko appears in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

For this Conduit Club event hosted by Max Porter in London, Egyptian Canadian novelist and journalist Omar El Akkad discusses his debut memoir, One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This (Knopf, 2025), and reflects on the “derangement of language” while reporting the War on Terror and the threats faced by journalists in Gaza today.

“I’m not consciously balancing humor and tragedy, but I know that they do exist side by side.” In this Louisiana Channel interview, Lorrie Moore talks about the nature of jokes, the emotional and tonal range of her short stories, and reflects on the sense of repetition in her novel I Am Homeless If This Is Not My Home (Knopf, 2023).

“When we die, our souls leave our bodies, / take with them everything they loved.... In Gaza, our bodies and rooms get crushed. / Nothing remains for the soul.” In this Busboys and Poets event, Mosab Abu Toha reads from his collection Forest of Noise (Knopf, 2024), and discusses his recent experiences in Gaza in a conversation with Isra Chaker. An interview with Abu Toha by Destiny O. Birdsong appears in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast hosted by Miwa Messer, author Juliet Grames speaks about her new novel, The Lost Boy of Santa Chionia (Knopf, 2024), which is set in an isolated Italian village in the 1960s.

In this event hosted by the Royal Society of Literature, Claire Messud, author most recently of This Strange Eventful History (Norton, 2024), and Anne Michaels, author most recently of Held (Knopf, 2024), speak about the shared themes of history and memory in their new novels in a conversation with novelist Elif Shafak.

In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast hosted by Miwa Messer, Dinaw Mengestu discusses the complex characters with sometimes uncertain motivations in his latest novel, Someone Like Us (Knopf, 2024), the nature of diasporic communities in American cities, and the mainstream expectations placed upon immigrant stories.

In this Late Night With Seth Meyers interview, Nicola Yoon talks about the rarity of writing fast, the experience of seeing adaptations of her books, and her new novel, One of Our Kind (Knopf, 2024).

In this episode of Poured Over: The Barnes & Noble Podcast hosted by Miwa Messer, author KB Brookins speaks about gender identity, resiliency and joy in the face of adversity, nonlinear storytelling, and their debut memoir, Pretty (Knopf, 2024).