Poets & Writers Theater

In this 2014 interview, Celeste Ng talks with Amazon senior editor Chris Schluep about becoming a mother while writing her debut novel, Everything I Never Told You (Penguin Press, 2014), elements of story inspiration, and the setting of her second novel, Little Fires Everywhere (Penguin Press, 2017). Ng is one of the honorees for the 2023 Poets & Writers Barnes & Noble Writers for Writers Award.

“My parents raised me in a white-sided saltbox house, the sort children draw in crayon. Years before we lived there, it had been cut in half and moved across town. We never learned why.” Jeannie Vanasco, who is featured in “The Unknown Yet Inevitable: Debut Literary Nonfiction of 2017” in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine, reads from her debut memoir, The Glass Eye (Tin House Books, 2017), at the University of Chicago.

“One of the things that the novel comes out of is this sense that reality itself is under attack, that the idea of truth itself is under attack. And it actually changed the way I wrote.” Salman Rushdie talks about politics, alternative news, free speech, and his most recent novel, The Golden House (Random House, 2017), on Boston’s WBGH News. “Epic: An Interview With Salman Rushdie” by Porochista Khakpour is featured in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this video, Javier Zamora reads his poem “Saguaros” from his debut poetry collection, Unaccompanied (Copper Canyon Press, 2017). Zamora speaks about his collection in “First” by Rigoberto González in the September/October 2017 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“As an English language writer, I’m not often asked to stretch culturally...” Eileen Myles talks about writing and nationalism, and the importance of international events like the Festival Neue Literatur. Myles’s debut memoir, Afterglow (a dog memoir) (Grove Press, 2017), is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Mike Scalise reads from his debut memoir, The Brand New Catastrophe (Sarabande Books, 2017), at the Sunday Salon series in New York City. Scalise is featured in “The Unknown Yet Inevitable: Debut Literary Nonfiction of 2017” in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“I wanted to write a book that would help you take a little bit more care.” Gabriel Tallent talks about the main character in his debut novel, My Absolute Darling (Riverhead Books, 2017), and how he hopes the book will resonate with readers. The novel is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“Heaven becomes our street’s shoulders…” In this video, Tongo Eisen-Martin reads a selection of poems at San Francisco State University’s Poetry Center. His second poetry collection, Heaven Is All Goodbyes (City Lights Publishers, 2017), is featured in Page One in the September/October 2017 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“We’re a narrative people. We love stories.” Michael McGriff shares about how his family and hometown influence his poems. McGriff’s fourth poetry collection, Early Hour (Copper Canyon Press, 2017), is featured in Page One in the September/October 2017 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“It’s a story that I’ve carried with me for quite a long time, almost a decade now.” Ayobami Adebayo talks about her debut novel, Stay With Me (Knopf, 2017), which is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“Now that your life nears its end / when you turn back what you see / is ruin.” Frank Bidart reads a selection of poems from his book Half-light: Collected Poems 1965–2016 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017), which is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Megan Stielstra shares her journey as a writer and reads from her essay “Channel B,” which was included in Best American Essays and in her collection Once I Was Cool (Curbside Splendor, 2013). Her second essay collection, The Wrong Way to Save Your Life (Harper Perennial, 2017), is featured in Page One in the September/October 2017 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

Nicole Sealey reads William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 6 and her poem “Even the Gods” from her debut collection, Ordinary Beast (Ecco, 2017), for the P.O.P series, which was was shot and edited by Rachel Eliza Griffiths in partnership with the Academy of American Poets. Sealey discusses poetry and craft with Dawn Lundy Martin in “Vagrant & Vulnerable” in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“Six months remain until you will be born and anything at all could happen to you in that time...” Karl Ove Knausgaard reads from his book Autumn (Penguin Press, 2017), which is featured in Page One in the September/October 2017 issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

In this 2014 video from the Chicago Humanities Festival, Frank Bidart reads his poem “Herbert White,” which is included in his latest collection, Half-light: Collected Poems 1965–2016 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2017). The new book is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.