Tag Archive for: Rebecca Makkai

Electric Lit Presents: The Craft of Covid in Fiction

The dynamic, unpredictable nature of the pandemic has forced novelists to become pundits, predicting what the world will look like when their novels are published.

They also face unique craft challenges: how do masks affect dialogue, character descriptions, and scene? How do social distancing and quarantine warp relationship dynamics?

Rebecca Makkai chose to move the events of I Have Some Questions for You to 2018, but still had to negotiate Covid protocol for courtroom scenes set in 2022. The protagonist of Weike Wang’s Joan Is Okay is an emergency room doctor in New York City; when Covid hit, Wang revised the novel to feature overwhelmed hospitals. A deadly flu ravages the globe in Phase Six by Jim Shepard, and the lessons of the Covid pandemic are in the distant past.

These three novelists will discuss the drafting and revision process of their novels and explain how they tackled the ever-changing question of how Covid should factor into their work.  Moderated by Halimah Marcus.

This year’s Masquerade of the Red Death is celebrating excellence in pandemic fiction with special guests and book giveaways at our party in Brooklyn on Friday, October 21, as well as related virtual salons. This salon is free for Masquerade ticket-holders*, $10 for the general public, and $5 for EL members.

*Masquerade ticket holders will receive an email with a discount code to register for free.

on October 6 2022· Tagged: crowdcast, digital event, Electric Lit, Electric Literature, online, online event, online workshop, Rebecca Makkai, salon, virtual workshop, Webinar, workshop, zoom

Exile in Bookville Presents: Authors on Tap: Anca L. Szilágyi and Rebecca Makkai

Join us IN PERSON on Thursday, September 29 at 7 pm central to help celebrate the launch of Anca L. Szilágyi‘s second novel, Dreams Under Glass.  Anca will be in conversation with Exile MVP Rebecca Makkai!

About Dreams Under Glass:
An art school grad turned paralegal faces a shocking and surreal death at her law firm against a backdrop of the 2008 financial crisis in New York City.

“A darkly delicious exploration of modern entrapment, Dreams Under Glass is both a coming-of-age novel and a horror story about gluttony, greed, and art. Szilágyi binds the spell with confectionary precision and a collector’s sense of wonder and ceaseless want. This book rattles with its refraction of a world in which telling the truth might be the most difficult art.”
-—Nancy Jooyoun Kim, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Story of Mina Lee

“Szilágyi’s sharp, wry prose captures millennial ennui and ambition alike in this sometimes-dark, sometimes-electric, completely fascinating novel.”
-—Sonora Jha, author of Foreign and How to Raise a Feminist Son

About the authors:

Anca L. Szilágyi is the author of Daughters of the Air (Lanternfish Press, 2017), which Shelf Awareness called “a striking debut from a writer to watch,” and Dreams Under Glass (Lanternfish Press, 2022). Her writing appears in Orion Magazine, Lilith Magazine, and Los Angeles Review of Books, among others. She is the recipient of awards and fellowships from Vermont Studio Center, Artist Trust, 4Culture, Hugo House, and Jack Straw Cultural Center, among others. Originally from Brooklyn, she has lived in Montreal, Seattle, and now Chicago, where she teaches creative writing at StoryStudio Chicago and elsewhere.

Rebecca Makkai is the Chicago-based author of the novels The Great Believers, The Hundred-Year House, and The Borrower, as well as the short story collection Music for Wartime. The Great Believers was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and received the ALA Carnegie Medal and the LA Times Book Prize, among other honors. Makkai is on the MFA faculties of Sierra Nevada College and Northwestern University, and she is Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago.

About the event:
You can purchase their books through the respective links or in store and Anca and Rebecca are happy to sign or personalize copies! If you can’t make it to the event, signed copies will be available and we ship nationally!

Please note the following COVID protocols for those attending IN PERSON:

• Attendees must present a physical copy or a photo of their COVID-19 vaccine card along with a valid photo ID (state, government, or school ID); or
• Provide a time-stamped printout, photo, or email of a negative PCR test taken within 48 hours of the event or a negative Rapid Antigen Test taken within 36 hours of the event, along with a valid photo ID (state, government, or school ID).
• All persons must wear a mask for the duration of their time in the Fine Arts Building, regardless of vaccination status in accordance with our current COVID policies

Please email us at books@exileinbookville.com or phone us at (312)-753-3154 if you have any questions or concerns. 

on September 29 2022· Tagged: Anca L. Szilágyi, author talk, conversation, discussion, Dreams Under Glass, events, exile in bookville, in conversation, Rebecca Makkai

Northwestern Summer Writers’ Conference: The Origins of The Original

The Northwestern University Summer Writers’ Conference is back! This year, the conference is entirely online again so you can join us from anywhere in the world. Details are forthcoming. In the meantime, please save the dates!

The conference is hosted by the Northwestern University School of Professional Studies MA in Writing and  MFA in Prose and Poetry programs.

on July 9 2022· Tagged: class, conference, conferences, course, education, Northwester Summer Writers' Conference, northwestern, online, Rebecca Makkai, virtual event, workshop, writing, Writing Workshop

American Writers Festival

American Writers Festival

The inaugural American Writers Festival on May 15, 2022 in Chicago coincides with the American Writers Museum’s fifth anniversary. The free literary festival will be held at four stages inside the Chicago Cultural Center and one stage at the American Writers Museum, and feature more than 75 beloved contemporary authors, artists and playwrights. Participating writers will address their perspectives on many of today’s most timely and controversial topics including immigration, book censorship, racism and equality through themes within their literature.

As a special bonus, the AWM will waive museum admission fees on Sunday, May 15 and Monday, May 16 – AWM’s fifth anniversary – to encourage more people to experience the literary works of the greatest American writers.

on May 15 2022· Tagged: American Writers Festival, American Writers Museum, author talk, AWM, Chicago Cultural Center, conversation, discussion, events, Festival, Free Event, in conversation, In Person Event, Rebecca Makkai, The Great Believers

The Porch: The Origins of the Original with Visiting Writer Rebecca Makkai

When we sit down to write, the first words, scenes, characters, conflicts, and settings we come up with are often the least original ones of which we’re capable. Digging past the obvious, the stock (and even the products of the collective unconscious), we might finally arrive at stories that are strikingly new and memorable. In this class we’ll cover some key elements of originality — specificity, idiosyncrasy, complexity, repetition, and change — and talk about accessing them both in drafting and revision.

on April 30 2022· Tagged: author talk, character building, class, digital event, discussion, education, lesson, online, Online Class, online event, Online Learning, online workshop, Rebecca Makkai, The Porch, virtual class, virtual event, virtual workshop, workshop, writing class, Writing Workshop, zoom

In-Person Event with Paul Holes / Unmasked

Join Anderson’s bookshop for an in-person event with Paul Holes, the retired cold-case detective behind investigations into the Golden State Killer, Jaycee Dugard, and Laci Peterson cases,  to discuss his new memoir Unmasked: My Life Solving America’s Cold Cases.  Paul will be in conversation with New York Times bestselling author Rebecca Makkai.

After a discussion by the author and a conversation partner, fans will be welcome to join a live signing line to get their book autographed by the author.  COVID safety protocols will be followed.

This event will be held at Wentz Concert Hall on the campus of North Central College, and pre-registration is required as space is limited. 

Please read these COVID protection requirements carefully:

Masks are required of all customers, regardless of vaccination status, and must remain properly covering the face for the entirety of the event.

A ticket is required for all attendees, attendance may be capped, and seating may also be restricted in order to allow for social distancing.

Anderson’s Bookshop, the author, and the publisher reserve the right to change the format of this event to a virtual one at any time if it becomes necessary.  A change in format will not entitle ticket holders to any refund.

Failure to follow these guidelines and to treat all participants with courtesy and respect may result in your expulsion from the event.

Please be advised that Anderson’s Bookshop assumes no responsibility or liability for any personal injury or other loss you may incur as a result of your decision to attend an event, including the transmission of Covid-19 or related illnesses.  We expect that for the protection of everyone, all applicable Covid related protocols will be followed.  

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation!

More about the book:

In this memoir, Paul Holes takes us through his memories of a storied career and provides an insider account of some of the most notorious cases in contemporary American history, including the hunt for the Golden State Killer, Laci Peterson’s murder, and Jaycee Dugard’s kidnapping. This is also a revelatory profile of a complex man and what makes him tick: the drive to find closure for victims and their loved ones, the inability to walk away from a challenge—even at the expense of his own happiness. Holes opens up the most intimate scenes of his life: his moments of self-doubt and the impact that detective work has had on his marriage. This is a story about the gritty truth of crime-solving when there are no flashbulbs and “case closed” headlines. It is the story of a man and his commitment to cases and people who might otherwise have been forgotten.

About the author:

In 2018, Paul Holes retired as a Cold Case Investigator after spending more than 27 years working in Contra Costa County in California’s Bay Area. Paul specialized in cold case and serial predator crimes, lending his expertise to notable cases, including the murder of Laci Peterson and the kidnapping of Jaycee Dugard. Most prominently, Paul’s career culminated with his identification of the Golden State Killer, the most notorious and cunning serial predator in U.S. history.

Since the arrest of Joseph DeAngelo, the Golden State Killer, Holes has been very involved on the media side, continuing to assist law enforcement and victims’ families with their unsolved cases through the television shows The DNA of Murder with Paul Holes and America’s Most Wanted, and with the podcast Jensen & Holes: The Murder Squad.

Rebecca Makkai is the Chicago-based author of the novels The Great Believers, The Hundred-Year House, and The Borrower, as well as the short story collection Music for Wartime. The Great Believers was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and received the ALA Carnegie Medal and the LA Times Book Prize, among other honors. Makkai is on the MFA faculties of Sierra Nevada College and Northwestern University, and she is Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago.

on April 27 2022· Tagged: Anderson's Bookshop, conversation, discussion, events, in conversation, in person, In Person Event, interviews, Naperville, Paul Holes, readings, Rebecca Makkai, Wentz Concert Hall

Friends of the Bronxville Public Library Presents: Lan Samantha Changin conversation with Rebecca Makkai (Zoom)

Lan Samantha Chang, author of The Family Chao,
in conversation with
Rebecca Makkai, author of The Great Believers

The Friends of the Bronxville Public Library (FOBPL) is pleased to host award-winning author Lan Samantha Chang, who will discuss her new novel, The Family Chao.  FOBPL is equally thrilled to host acclaimed author Rebecca Makkai to moderate this event.

For the recent MyHometownBronxville article, click here. 

Thursday, April 21, 2022
7:00-8:00 p.m. via Zoom

This event is free, but registration is required.

To register, please click here.

Registration closes on April 21, 12:00 p.m.
(Zoom link will be provided through Eventbrite Registration on April 21.)

THE FAMILY CHAO is an electrifying and devastating portrait of a Chinese American family grappling with trauma, grief, race, love, and longing. Brimming with comedy, suspense, and heartbreak, Lan Samantha Chang’s masterpiece is one of the most ambitious novels about America in recent years.

Lan Samantha Chang is the award-winning author of a collection of short fiction, Hunger, and novels The Family Chao, Inheritance and All is Forgotten, Nothing is Lost.  A recent Berlin Prize Fellow, she also has received grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.  Chang is the first Asian American and the first female director of the Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She lives in Iowa City.  For more on Lan Samantha Chang and The Family Chao, click here.

Moderator Rebecca Makkai is the Chicago-based author of the novels The Great Believers, The Hundred-Year House, and The Borrower, as well as the short story collection Music for Wartime. The Great Believerswas a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and received the ALA Carnegie Medal and the LA Times Book Prize, among other honors.  Makkai is on the MFA faculties of Sierra Nevada College and Northwestern University, and she is Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago.  For more on Rebecca Makkai, click here.

Signed copies of The Family Chao are available for sale now at Womrath Bookshop. 

The FOBPL appreciates your donations.  Thank you! 

on April 21 2022· Tagged: author talk, Bronxville, Bronxville Public Library, conversation, digital event, events, free, Friends of the Bronxville Public Library, in conversation, Lan Samantha Chang, online, online event, Rebecca Makkai, Samantha Chang, The Family Chao, zoom

Authors on Tap: Lily King and Rebecca Makkai

Looking for the perfect gift idea for that avid and discerning reader on your holiday shopping list? Well call off the dogs, because we have you covered. Exile in Bookville has the honor of hosting Lily King on Monday, December 6th at 7:00pm central to help celebrate her debut short story collection, Five Tuesdays in Winter.  This very special event will be held IN PERSON and virtually simulcast just a few floors above Exile in beautiful Curtiss Hall, located on the 10th floor of the historic Fine Arts Building in downtown Chicago. Come for the breathtaking view, stay for the event!  And if that wasn’t enough, Lily will be in conversation with literary superstar and Exile VIP Rebecca Makkai!

Continue reading ?

on December 6 2021· Tagged: author talk, chicago, Chicago Books, exile in bookville, Five Tuesdays in Winter, hybrid event, in conversation, in person, Lily King, live event, online event, Rebecca Makkai, virtual

Exile in Bookville Presents: Authors on Tap: Nick Flynn and Rebecca Makkai

on August 26 2021· Tagged: author talk, authors on tap, exile in bookville, in conversation, Nick Flynn, online, Rebecca Makkai, this is the night our how, virtual event, zoom event

StoryStudio Chicago Presents: The Geek-Out Book Club | Rebecca Makkai + Cristina Henriquez Discuss “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson

The Geek-Out is writers geeking out about literature, plain and simple! One writer will make the other read something for the first time (in this case, Rebecca made Cristina read Shirley Jackson’s legendarily unnerving “The Lottery”) and then for about an hour they talk together about craft, impact, what they loved, what they didn’t. The audience is encouraged to read the piece too, and participate via the chat box.

The event is a fundraiser for StoryStudio’s Doro Boehme scholarship fund, benefiting writers working on book-length projects. If this first go is successful, we hope to make The Geek-Out a regular series, inviting your favorite writers to participate and discuss other legendary stories and books.

on December 14 2020· Tagged: Book Club, cristina henriquez, discussion, Doro Boehme, fundraiser, geek out, online event, q&a, Rebecca Makkai, Scholarship, StoryStudio, virtual event, zoom