Poets & Writers Theater

In this 2014 interview, Celeste Ng talks with Amazon senior editor Chris Schluep about becoming a mother while writing her debut novel, Everything I Never Told You (Penguin Press, 2014), elements of story inspiration, and the setting of her second novel, Little Fires Everywhere (Penguin Press, 2017). Ng is one of the honorees for the 2023 Poets & Writers Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award.

In this Free Library of Philadelphia event, Joseph Earl Thomas reads from his debut memoir, Sink (Grand Central, 2023), and speaks with author Elias Rodriques about writing in third person and on the subjects of violence, care, and family. Sink is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this 2020 McSweeney’s Instagram Live reading, Mai Nardone reads an excerpt from his short story “The Tum-Boon Brigade,” which appears in his debut story collection, Welcome Me to the Kingdom (Random House, 2023). Nardone’s book is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this 2022 virtual reading, Charif Shanahan reads from his second poetry collection, Trace Evidence (Tin House, 2023), alongside Keetje Kuipers, author of All Its Charms (BOA Editions, 2019), for the Chicago Poetry Center’s Blue Hour reading series. Trace Evidence is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“I pop tins of the greasiest luncheon meat open, / slather my chin with animal salt…” In this video, Ina Cariño, a 2022 Whiting Award winner in poetry, reads their poem “Lean Economy” from their debut collection, Feast (Alice James Books, 2023), which is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this Books Are Magic event, Patricia Engel reads from her story collection The Faraway World (Avid Reader Press, 2023) and speaks with Naima Coster about writing habits and what inspires her to write. The Faraway World is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this video, Sabrina Imbler speaks about their debut book, How Far the Light Reaches: A Life in Ten Sea Creatures (Little, Brown, 2022), with journalist Heather Smith after an introduction by Rebecca Solnit for this event hosted by the Green Arcade in San Francisco. Imbler’s book is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this virtual conversation for the Brown Girl Collective Book Club, Evette Dionne, author of Weightless: Making Space for My Resilient Body and Soul (Ecco, 2022), speaks with Marcie L. Thomas about writing her book and researching the biases placed against Black women in healthcare. Dionne’s essay collection is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“I should have turned out normal, but I didn’t. What happened?” Watch the book trailer for Kevin Maloney’s second novel, The Red-Headed Pilgrim (Two Dollar Radio, 2023), which is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this interview for The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, George Saunders speaks about his latest story collection, Liberation Day (Random House, 2022), and the need to be in a “holy state of not knowing anything” when starting a new writing project. Liberation Day is featured in Page One in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this virtual Books & Books event, Emma Bolden reads from and speaks about her debut memoir, The Tiger and the Cage: A Memoir of a Body in Crisis (Soft Skull, 2022), with author Chantel Acevedo. Bolden’s memoir is featured in Page One in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“You can slash a book. There are different ways to measure depth, but not many readers measure a book’s depth with a knife, making a cut from the first page all the way down to the last.” Yiyun Li reads from her novel The Book of Goose (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2022) in this Politics and Prose event with Maud Casey in Washington, D.C.

“I think I always accepted revision as what you have to do as a writer,” says Erika T. Wurth on the revision process for her stories and novels in this Lighthouse Writers Workshop interview with Rachel Weaver. Wurth’s third novel, White Horse (Flatiron Books, 2022), is featured in Page One in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“What the history books neglect / is that the first astronomers / were women gazing up at depths / and wishing for a different planet.” In this video for the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative, Maya C. Popa reads her poem “The Art of Stars,” which she dedicates to Maria Mitchell, the first U.S. female astronomer. Popa’s collection Wound Is the Origin of Wonder (Norton, 2022) is featured in Page One in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“What better way can I help myself and my community than standing on stage and taking off the mask of character,” says Joshua Whitehead about his first essay collection, Making Love With the Land (University of Minnesota Press, 2022), and his transition from writing fiction to nonfiction in this interview for CHCH Morning Live in Canada. Whitehead’s book is featured in Page One in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“The first time I tried reading any of these poems aloud, I discovered that they had effectively broken my writing practice.” In this virtual lecture for the 2021 Creative Capital Artist Retreat, Simone White talks about the writing process for her latest poetry collection, or, on being the other woman (Duke University Press, 2022), which is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“Of the foreground, we will not speak. Look past the / blotted figures.” Jenny Xie reads “Red Puncta,” which appears in her second poetry collection, The Rupture Tense (Graywolf Press, 2022), in this video for the Nation’s Spring Poetry Reading, which also featured Golden and Donika Kelly, hosted by Kaveh Akbar. The Rupture Tense is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“This is what was bequeathed us: / This earth the beloved left / And, leaving, / Left to us.” In this virtual reading for the Dire Literary Series hosted by Timothy Gager, poet Gregory Orr reads from his latest collection, Selected Books of the Beloved (Copper Canyon Press, 2022), which is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this Simon & Schuster Books video, Sidik Fofana reads from his debut story collection, Stories From the Tenants Downstairs (Scribner, 2022), which is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“Writing is my true, true joy, and that’s what makes me feel alive and nourished.” Erika L. Sánchez talks about her memoir, Crying in the Bathroom (Viking, 2022), and the process of book promotion and being a writer with Sandra Cisneros in this virtual event for Politics and Prose, produced in partnership with Books and Books and Café con Libros. Sánchez’s memoir is featured in Page One in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.