Virtual Festival

A young woman seeks ways to distract herself after her mother’s death. An intelligent liberal arts student looks to guidance from her favorite authors to move past heartbreak. Two Taiwanese-American best friends continue to find themselves drawn to each other, despite the passage of time, distance, and shame. Ella Baxter’s New Animal, Elif Batuman’s Either/Or, and Jean Chen Ho’s Fiona and Jane are all intimate depictions of what it means to be women growing upwards, in search of love, a purposeful existence, and human connection. Moderated by Ilana Masad (All My Mother’s Lovers).

A mother struggling to find her footing under the weight of immigrant parent expectations, a time-traveler in search of freedom through the mysteries of the past, and a sociologist held captive by an unknown civilization on Jupiter. These protagonists are each forced to confront the abusive power and violence imposed upon them by the structures and forces that shape our worlds. Join Jessamine Chan (The School for Good Mothers), Lidia Yuknavitch (Thrust), and Mat Johnson (Invisible Things) as they come together to discuss their culturally pertinent and deeply prescient novels. Moderated by Hirsh Sawhney (South Haven).

Home will always call out to you, no matter where you go. The story of a couple meeting in modern-day New York is intimately entangled with the histories of their parents’ first loves in the Virgin Islands and Ghana. In County Mayo, Ireland, the daily lives of long-time residents are threaded through with loss, disillusion, and dark humor. Meanwhile, the women of Alaska find themselves unable to escape the cold emotional wilderness of their home state, even when they move south. Join Tiphanie Yanique (Monster in the Middle), Colin Barrett (Homesickness), and Leigh Newman (Nobody Gets Out Alive) for a conversation about the places that make us. Moderated by Sarah High (Bookshop.org).

Two authors craft compelling narratives that paint vivid portraits of America’s shameful past. In Geraldine Brooks’s Horse, two storylines from different time periods are threaded together to reveal America’s enduring legacy of injustice and racism. And in Jabari Asim’s Yonder, a group of strivers connect through love and friendship while fighting to survive the cruel and inhumane conditions of enslavement. Moderated by Gal Beckerman (The Quiet Before).