This program will be held in-person at the Newberry and livestreamed on Zoom. The online version of this event will be live captioned. Please register here.

This installment of “Conversations at the Newberry” features award-winning novelists Rebecca Makkai and Meg Wolitzer.

In this event, Chicago author Rebecca Makkai (I Have Some Questions for You, The Great Believers) will interview New York-based and New York Times bestselling author Meg Wolitzer (The Female Persuasion, The Interestings) about a life in books, her growth as an author, her film adaptations—including 2017’s The Wife—and her new role as host of Public Radio’s popular Selected Shorts podcast.

This program also marks the launch of a new series curated by Rebecca Makkai and StoryStudio, which will pair major visiting authors in conversation with local discussion partners. Unlike bookstore or festival events promoting an author’s latest book, these evenings will highlight the author’s whole career, with a focus on the craft of writing. Perfect for readers and writers alike, each event will celebrate one author’s work—a glimpse behind the creative curtain, a chance to ask questions, and an opportunity to mingle with other literary folk. You’ll also be able to purchase books and have them signed.

The event, generously sponsored by Sue and Melvin Gray and presented in collaboration with StoryStudio Chicago, is free to the public.

Makkai’s latest book, I Have Some Questions for You, along with her 2018 novel The Great Believers, are available for purchase at the Newberry Bookshop.

Wolitzer’s novels, The Female Persuasion (2018) and The Interestings (2013) are available for purchase at the Newberry bookshop.

SPEAKERS

Rebecca Makkai is the Chicago-based author of the novels The Great Believers, a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award,?The Hundred-Year House, and The Borrower. She is on the MFA faculties of Sierra Nevada College and Northwestern University and Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago. Join her at SubMakk (it’s a Substack!)

Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times-bestselling author of The Interestings, The Uncoupling, The Ten-Year Nap, The Female Persuasion, The Position, The Wife, and Sleepwalking. She is also the author of the young adult novel Belzhar.