Poets & Writers Theater

In this event hosted by the Free Library of Philadelphia, Morgan Parker discusses her debut essay collection, You Get What You Pay For (One World, 2024), and the challenges of writing about mental health in a conversation with Shantrelle Lewis. Parker’s book is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this event hosted by the Free Library of Philadelphia, Kiley Reid reads from her second novel, Come and Get It (G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 2024), and discusses what it means to have an artistic responsibility to truth in a conversation with Niela Orr. Come and Get It is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this event hosted by the Free Library of Philadelphia, Sigrid Nunez, author of The Vulnerables (Riverhead Books, 2023), and Henry Hoke, author of Open Throat (MCD, 2023), read from their novels and discuss the writing of nontraditional lines, the appeal of literary absurdity, and current trends in literature.

Safiya Sinclair reads from her debut memoir, How to Say Babylon (37 Ink, 2023), and speaks with poet Airea D. Matthews for this event recorded at the Free Library of Philadelphia. A profile of Sinclair by Renée H. Shea is featured in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this Free Library of Philadelphia event, Joseph Earl Thomas reads from his debut memoir, Sink (Grand Central, 2023), and speaks with author Elias Rodriques about writing in third person and on the subjects of violence, care, and family. Sink is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“In the morning, the one who is mostly enlightened comes in.” At this Free Library of Philadelphia author event, Jenny Offill reads from her new novel, Weather (Knopf, 2020), and speaks about her writing process and love of libraries. Weather is featured in Page One in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“I didn’t know real people could be writers when they grew up. That would have been like saying that I wanted to be a fairy or a movie star.” Barbara Kingsolver, the author most recently of Unsheltered (Harper, 2018), talks to the Free Library of Philadelphia about how a childhood love of books made her a “citizen of the world” despite growing up in a small town in Kentucky. Kingsolver and Richard Powers speak about writing fiction in “A Talk in the Woods” in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Jennifer Egan, author of Manhattan Beach (Scribner, 2017), and Carmen Maria Machado, author of Her Body and Other Parties (Graywolf Press, 2017), speak backstage at the Free Library of Philadelphia about the greatest pleasures of writing fiction.