I will have the honor of interviewing Ann Goldstein, one of today’s foremost literary translators (best known for bringing Elena Ferrante to English-speaking readers) as she receives the 2024 Maplewood Literary Award. The event is free (no tickets required) and will be held at the historic Woodland, 60 Woodland Drive, Maplewood, NJ—steps from the Maplewood train station. For more information: 973-762-1688, ext. 5002.

I'll be speaking with Jennifer Egan about her most recent (and thrilling) novel, The Candy House, in the kickoff to the Maplewood-South Orange Book Festival. At the Woodland (in the Great Hall), 60 Woodland Road, Maplewood, NJ. A book signing will follow the conversation.

I’ll be reading from my fiction, old and brand-new, as part of the St. Lawrence University Visiting Writer Series. Open to the public. Sykes Common Room, Sykes Residence Hall, 48 Park Street, Canton, NY.

As part of SOPL’s Special Conversations series, I’ll be appearing with Robin Black to discuss our two new books, Middlemarch and the Imperfect Life and Virginia Woolf’s Mrs. Dalloway. Both are volumes in Ig Publishing’s Bookmarked series, which matches authors with works of literature they’ve found formative. Each is a unique hybrid of personal essay, craft talk, and literary appreciation. The conversation will be both in person and remote and moderated by Laura Sims, author of the novel Looker. Register here for remote link. South Orange Public Library, 65 Scotland Rd., South Orange, NJ, 973.762.0230.

I’ll be jamming in person at my favorite Chicago bookstore, talking about MIDDLEMARCH AND THE IMPERFECT LIFE with Joseph Scappelato, author of The Made-Up Man. Exile in Bookville, 410 S Michigan Ave (the Fine Arts Building), suite 210. Leave time to take the cool, attendant-operated elevator. Please note that the time listed is local, Central time. The event can also be attended remotely; register here for online access link (no need to register if you’re coming in person).

I’ll be joining Robin Black and Steve Yarbrough for an in-person discussion entitled “Three Writers on the Books That Made Them Authors.” All three of us have written volumes for Ig Publishing’s Bookmarked series: mine on Middlemarch, Robin’s on Mrs. Dalloway, and Steve’s on The Last Picture Show. We’ll talk about how these books shaped us as authors (and people), and the challenges of writing about a personally beloved work of literature. D.T. Max of the New Yorker will moderate. Panel will be held at the Montclair Library tent, 50 S. Fullerton Ave., Montclair, NJ. Check out the festival’s other great events, too: Jennifer Egan! Elizabeth Alexander!

The brain child of the mighty authors Caroline Leavitt and Jenna Blum, A Mighty Blaze sprang up during the pandemic to keep literary appearances alive, and is continuing strong even as in-person events resume. I’ll be in an online conversation with Robin Black on our simultaneously published Bookmarked volumes on Middlemarch and Mrs. Dalloway. Access the event via A Mighty Blaze’s YouTube channel. And sign up for their newsletter to get links to future events!

Rabbi Hannah Orden of Congregation Beth Hatikvah and I will be interviewing Marcia Pally, author of the new book From This Broken Hill I Sing to You: God, Sex, and Politics in the Work of Leonard Cohen. Summit Free Public Library, Summit, NJ. This will be a wonderful, free-ranging Zoom conversation about Cohen’s long and complicated relationship to religion: his own (Judaism) and others. To register to receive Zoom link, sign up here (scroll down to bottom for registration button).

The first draft of my latest novel, Matasha, was written during National Novel Writing Month. The Millburn, NJ, library has invited me and another NaNoWriMo-er, Joanne Serling, author of Good Neighbors, to talk about our work and the NaNoWriMo process, as a kickoff for the library’s own month-long NaNoWriMo event. Millburn Free Public Library, 200 Glen Ave., Millburn, NJ 973-376-1006. The event is free but registration is required.

POSTPONED TILL SPRING 2022:
The protagonist of my middle grade novel, Matasha, has a lot of problems to solve. What are some of the ways she looks for solutions? What are some of the ways YOU do or might? This brainstorming event especially for kids 9 through 14 (but any ages welcome!) will include a short reading, Q & A with the author (me), and an optional writing exercise. It takes place OUTDOORS, rain or shine (there will be a tent) at the Hilton Branch, 1688 Springfield Avenue, Maplewood. (973) 662-3979.

Due to Covid, this years MAPSO Bookfest is an all-children’s event. I’ll be there all day with my girl Matasha to chat and sign copies. Come visit me and 43 other children’s authors!

Conversation with Abby Sher, author of Sanctuary and Amen, Amen, Amen on "The Challenges of Writing for Children vs. Writing for Adults,” moderated by Looker author Laura Sims, 65 Scotland Road, South Orange, NJ.

Register for event here. If weather permits, this conversation can be attended in person outside on library premises as well as on Zoom. For further info: 973.762.0230 or librarian@sopl.orgaddress.

Book celebration at a private home in South Orange, NJ, co-hosted by Words Bookstore of Maplewood, NJ. Open to the public. Visit Words’ events page for information.

Zoom conversation about Matasha with Andrew Medlar, longtime children’s librarian and Director of Book Operations at the New York Public Library. Register here or here. Note: Event time indicated is Eastern Time.

(Javier Ramirez and Kristin Enola Gilbert of Exile in Bookville have been a tremendous force in virtual book events during the pandemic, and they have just opened a brick-and-mortar store on South Michigan Avenue in Chicago!)

The adorable Book House of Millburn, NJ does a weekly interview series entitled “Local Love.” I’m the lucky author on June 2. The 12-minute interview will be available at 1 p.m. and forever after on The Book House’s Facebook and Instagram pages. Facebook link here. Instagram link here.

“Location, Location, Location”: A conversation about the role of place and sitting in fiction, from a New York City hospital (in Eleven Hours, by Yours Truly) to Rikers Island in Sergio De La Pava’s Lost Empress, to the islands of Maine in Estep Nagy’s We Shall Not All Sleep.  Moderated by Alice Elliott Dark, author of In the Gloaming and Think of England. At First Congregational Church (sanctuary), 40 Sth Fullerton Ave, Montclair, New Jersey. More festival events can be found here (calendar will continue to be updated).

I’ll be joining fellow visiting faculty member Janice Obuchowski for a reading in the Abernethy Room at the college’s Axinn Center, 15 Old Chapel Road, Middlebury, VT. For further information, call the Department of English and American Literatures, 802.443.5276.

I'll be joining Joanne Serling (Good Neighbors), Lynn Schmeidler (History of Gone, Wrack Lines), and Writers Studio Hudson Valley students for a reading and Q & A. At Spotty Dog Books & Ale, 440 Warren Street, Hudson, NY. 518-671-6006. (Edit 6/7/18: note that time for reading has been changed).

I'll be speaking with Claire Messud, author of The Woman Upstairs and The Emperor's Children, about her powerful new novel, The Burning Girl. The event is part of the all-day Maplewood-South Orange Book Festival. At the Woodland, 60 Woodland Road, Maplewood.  

I'll be at Book Culture 81st Street talking with Joanne Serling about GOOD NEIGHBORS, her smart and unsettling new novel about secrets in suburbia. Joanne will read from the novel. 450 Columbus Avenue, NYC. (212) 595-1962

Long Eddy, New York (formerly Douglas City) is 150 years old this July! In celebration, there will be all kinds of activities in town July 14 through 16, including kayak and canoe races on the Delaware River, art and historical exhibits, music, games for kids . . . and a reading with local (including part-time local) authors, of which I'm one. With Darcey Steinke, Douglas A. Martin, and Mike Hudson. Basket Historical Society, Route 97, Long Eddy; more details at (845) 887-6703.

"Motherhood in Fiction: The Joys and Sorrows," with Lauren Grodstein, moderated by Elizabeth Trundle. A panel at the first annual Maplewood/South Orange, NJ book festival! A chance for my town to show off how very much we have going on lit'rachur-wise. Other festival authors include Mary Roach, Ada Calhoun, Dale Russakoff, D.T. Max, Marina Budhos, Tina Kelley, Caroline Leavitt, Julia Fierro, Nicole Dennis-Benn, Christina Baker Kline, and Marcy Dermansky. At the Woodland (parlor), 60 Woodland Road, Maplewood, NJ. Festival kickoff party and reading with Mary Roach is 6 p.m. on Friday, June 9, South Orange Performing Arts Center (Loft), 1 SOPAC Way, South Orange, NJ. Call (973) 313-2787 for tickets for the Roach event (everything else is free). Festival venues for Saturday are the Woodland and the Bergdoff Center in Maplewood.

I'll be reprising my fall Tin House class, a three-hour afternoon workshop on "Setting the Clock: Manipulating Past, Present, and Pace in Fiction." We'll be doing some close reading and talking about how monkeying with time registers can help writers achieve the emotional effects they're looking for. Generative exercises will be included. Check out the other teachers and classes on the spring roster here! Application deadline for all classes is March 20. Location: Tin House Magazine office, 126 13th Street (between 2nd and 3rd Avenues), #4R, Brooklyn, NY (Gowanus neighborhood). 

I'm delighted to be receiving this award in my hometown of Maplewood, NJ, at the conclusion of its annual Ideas Festival. The event will include an interview with Sarah Lester, director of the Maplewood Memorial Library, followed by an audience Q & A and a book signing. At the library, 51 Baker Street, Maplewood, NJ.  973-762-1622. 

The Ideas Festival is a great two-week event and I want to give a shout-out to its sponsors and supporters: The New Jersey State Council on the Arts, the National Endowment for the Arts, The Friends of the Maplewood Library, The Maplewood Library Foundation, The Maplewood Woman’s Club, and Words Bookstore.

I'll be visiting Siena College in Loudonville, NY, courtesy of the Greyfriar Living Literature Series, to do a reading and a workshop with students. The reading, which is open to the public, will be on Wednesday, March 1 at 7:30 p.m. in the Boland Room of the Fr. Benjamin Kuhn, O.F.M., House. Siena College is at 515 Loudon Road, Loudonville, NY. For any further information, call (518) 783-4278.

Five authors, five volumes of Karl Ove Knausgaard's opus My Struggle (the sixth and final volume has yet to be translated into English from the Norwegian). Each of us has chosen one volume to discuss with participants at the Center for Fiction. I'll be doing Volume 2, which dives deep into the early years of Knausgaard's second marriage and fatherhood. Discussions of other volumes will be led by Roxana Robinson, Matthew Thomas, Ed Park, and Rebecca Mead. Follow this link to sign up: http://centerforfiction.org/for-readers/join-reading-groups/novelists-read-knausgaard/. Center For Fiction, 17 E. 47th Street, New York, NY (212.755.6710).

Second of a two-part visit to the University of Chicago's "Fictions and Forms" series. Conversation led by Professor Dan Raeburn, Logan Center for the Arts, room 801, 915 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL. 

First of a two-part guest visit to the University of Chicago's "Fictions and Forms" series. Reading is open to the public and will be followed by Q & A and reception. Logan Center for the Arts, room 801, 915 E. 60th Street, Chicago, IL. 

An evening of readings in the fabulous Slipper Room, with Kevin Anglade, Stephanie Gangi, and Joel Hinman. 167 Orchard Street (between Rivington and Stanton streets; entrance on Stanton Street.)