Writing female characters that transcend tropes and come alive on the page is a challenging—and crucial—task for any writer. When those women lived decades, centuries, or even millennia ago, the work of the writer becomes even more complex. This panel will explore the process and practices of five women novelists who’ve featured powerful female characters, from a 19th-century astronomer to an 18th-century Russian empress, a midcentury mathematician, and an American slave in antebellum Ohio.

More Than Words Presents: The Great Believers Book Talk @ More Than Words Warehouse Bookstore

Join author Rebecca Makkai for a reading and signing of her book, The Great Believers.

In this panel, several historians consider Rebecca Makkai’s The Great Believers (2018), the critically acclaimed and multiple-award-winning novel about the AIDS epidemic in Chicago in the 1980s. This is a panel not only about the history of HIV/AIDS but also about the space between fiction and history, and the challenges of writing a fictional account of the AIDS crisis. Rebecca Makkai will conclude the session with her own reflections on writing the novel.

This year marks the 17th annual Tom Wolfe Weekend Seminar, W&L's ultimate book club. Sponsored by the W&L Class of 1951 in honor of its late classmate Tom Wolfe, the program honors a distinguished writer and observer of the American scene. This year, we turn to one of our own, Rebecca Makkai, W&L class of 1999, whose critically acclaimed novel, "The Great Believers," was a National Book Award Finalist and was selected as one of the 10 Best Books of 2018 by The New York Times Book Review.

The Lakeland University Community Book Read is an opportunity for the greater community to come together with Lakeland students, faculty and staff and discuss good books and powerful stories.
For our sixth event, we are reading "The Great Believers" by Rebecca Makkai. She will join us at Lakeland the evening of April 23 for a free book discussion and signing.

On April 26th, Literature for All of Us will host its annual fundraising event, Spring Bunch, at the Byrn Mawr Country Club. This year, we are deeply honored to welcome Rebecca Makkai, author and 2019 Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award finalist for The Great Believers, as keynote speaker. 

The great advantage of prose (over theater, film, and life) is that we’re privy to characters’ interior states. But how can a writer get thoughts and emotions across, other than by stating them flat-out or by updating us constantly on breathing and heart rate? We’ll explore ways to use tangent, gesture, backstory, action, association, and more to give characters a rich internal life without resorting to the old cardiopulmonary check-in.

Please join us for a virtual event with Carter Sickels for a conversation with Rebecca Makkai about Sickels' new novel, The Prettiest Star. This event will be streamed on Women & Children First's Crowdcast Channel! Small-town Appalachia doesn't have a lot going for it, but it's where Brian is from, where his family is, and […]

Join me on A Mighty Blaze's Facebook page on Wednesday, July 1 at 4 PM ET/3 PM CT to hear Rebecca explain what she admires about Madison Street Books, a new indie bookstore in Chicago. We'll talk bookstores, books, best pandemic reads, and more. Hosted by Kimberly Hensle Lowrance; produced by Joe Moldover. See you there!