Nonfiction Events

Authors Julia Cooke and Lance Richardson sit down to discuss their new biographies. Both works explore the lives of trailblazing journalists and activists. Moderated by journalist Charley Locke. 

Dr. Mary Fariba Asfari and fiction writer Danny Ramadan pivot from their usual work to author their own stories in their recently published memoirs. Both authors share powerfully nuanced accounts of resilience and autonomy, whether working to expand women’s access to healthcare in Afsari’s memoir, or navigating the brutal reality of being queer under oppressive regimes in Ramadan’s work. Moderated by journalist Claudia Meza. 

Writer and cartoonist Lisa Hanawalt joins fellow graphic memoirist Julia Wertz for a conversation on graphic memoirs and the comedy found in crises, obsessions, and growing up. Both works feature the vulnerability of the memoir form displayed in bold graphic panels but, at their core, center relatable stories of resilience and humor. Moderated by comics journalist Shay Mirk.  

Both coming of age in the 90s, Ed Park and Alicia Jo Rabins come together to discuss their new memoirs exploring a shared through line of coming into your voice and identity as an artist while surrounded by many different influences. Moderated by OPB reporter, Lillian Karabaic.

Pulitzer and National Book Award finalist Anand Gopal is joined by moderator and OPB host Geoff Norcross for a conversation about his recent publication, Days of Love and Rage. This work of nonfiction follows a group of Syrian citizens who carry out a remarkable revolution against a brutal dictatorship in 2011. Through polarization, betrayal, allegiance, and inequity, Gopal expertly weaves a story of a single city’s struggle for democracy in the face of rising authoritarianism.