Fiction Events

An American Master returns: Tim O'Brien delivers his first new novel in two decades, a brilliant and rollicking odyssey, in which a bank robbery sparks “a satirical romp through a country plagued by deceit." Interviewed by Steph Opitz.

Cutis Sittenfeld, author of the New York Times bestseller Romantic Comedy, in which a comedy writer thinks she’s sworn off love, until a dreamy pop star flips the script on all her assumptions, interviewed by Eden Dawn.

The new book by Debra Magpie Earling is a devastatingly beautiful novel that challenges prevailing historical narratives of Sacajewea. In his new novel, Justin Torres mines lost histories—personal and collective. Moderated by Stacy D. Flood.

Taking as inspiration his mother’s own Red Cross service, Luis Alberto Urrea's new novel is an overlooked story of women’s heroism in World War II. Alice Winn has written a haunting, virtuosic debut novel about two young men who fall in love during World War I. Moderated by OPB's Geoff Norcross.

When a father goes missing, his family’s desperate search leads them to question everything they know about him and one another a thrilling page-turner, a deeply moving portrait of a family in crisis from Angie Kim. From Edan Lepucki comes an enthralling saga about family secrets that grow more powerful with time, set against the magical, dangerous landscape of California. Moderated by Neal Thompson.

A debut novel of female friendship and coming-of-age from Mexico City to London and Paris from Jazmina Barrera. Michelle Wildgen's novel is an intoxicating escape into the cutthroat world of wine and the complicated terrain of women’s friendship. Moderated by Fiona McCann. 

Omar El Akkad interviews Naomi Alderman about her new novel, a dazzling tour de force where a handful of friends plot a daring heist to save the world from the tech giants whose greed threatens life as we know it.

From South Korea to the American South, two multi-generational novels explore inheritance, grief, and family. E. J. Koh's debut novel is an elegantly wrought family saga of memory, trauma, and empathy, and a stunning testament to the consequences and fortunes of inheritance. From the best-selling author Ayana Mathis, a searing multi-generational new novel—set in the 1980s in racially and politically turbulent Philadelphia and in the tiny town of Bonaparte, Alabama—about a mother fighting for her sanity and survival. Moderated by Chelsea Bieker.

Two thrilling new story collections from Kathleen Alcott and Vauhini Vara. Moderated by Kimberly King Parsons (Black Light).

Dave Miller interviews Jonathan Lethem, about his new novel, a sweeping story of community, crime, and gentrification, tracing more than fifty years of life in one Brooklyn neighborhood.

A study of character studies. From Patrick deWitt comes the story of Bob Comet, a man who has lived his life through and for literature, unaware that his own experience is a poignant and affecting narrative in itself. Lydia Kiesling's new novel is a propulsive and challenging story about class, power, politics, and desire told through the life of one woman—her social milieu, her romances, her unarticulated wants. Moderated by Daniel Nieh.