Poets & Writers Theater
Every day we share a new clip of interest to creative writers—author readings, book trailers, publishing panels, craft talks, and more. So grab some popcorn, filter the theater tags by keyword or genre, and explore our sizable archive of literary videos.
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Written and directed by Laura Piani, this French romantic comedy follows a bookseller at the legendary bookshop, Shakespeare and Company, who dreams of experiencing love akin to a Jane Austen novel and becoming a writer. The film stars Camille Rutherford, Pablo Pauly, Charlie Anson, and Annabelle Lengronne.
Tags: Fiction | Jane Austen Wrecked My Life | Jane Austen | movie trailer | trailer | 2025 | bookstore | Shakespeare and Company -
Watch the trailer for The Friend, a film adaptation of Sigrid Nunez’s National Book Award–winning novel of the same name. Written and directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, the film stars Ann Dowd, Bill Murray, Naomi Watts, and Bing the Great Dane.
Tags: Fiction | The Friend | Sigrid Nunez | movie trailer | trailer | film adaptation | novel | 2025 -
Watch the trailer for Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy, a film adaptation of the 2013 novel of the same name by Helen Fielding. Renée Zellweger, Hugh Grant, Colin Firth, and Emma Thompson reprise their roles in this fourth installment of the Bridget Jones film series, which follows the titular character navigating romance as a single mother and widow.
Tags: Fiction | Bridget Jones | film adaptation | movie trailer | romance | Helen Fielding | 2025 -
Watch the trailer for Mickey 17, a science fiction film based on Edward Ashton’s 2022 novel, Mickey7. Written, produced, and directed by Bong Joon-ho and starring Robert Pattinson, the film follows a man who is hired to die and be cloned repeatedly while exploring a dangerous planet.
Tags: Fiction | Mickey 17 | Mickey7 | Edward Ashton | novel | film adaptation | movie trailer | science fiction | Bong Joon-ho | Robert Pattinson | 2025 -
Watch the trailer for Nightbitch, a film adaptation of the 2021 novel of the same name by Rachel Yoder. Written and directed by Marielle Heller, the film stars Amy Adams as an artist who pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mother and finds her maternal instincts beginning to manifest in canine form.
Tags: Fiction | Nightbitch | Rachel Yoder | film adaptation | movie trailer | novel | magical realism | 2024 -
Watch the trailer for After: Poetry Destroys Silence, a cinematic performance film directed by Richard Kroehling and starring Cornelius Eady, Edward Hirsh, Melissa Leo, Géza Röhrig, and a cast of celebrated award-winning poets who respond to the Holocaust and talk about the importance and necessity for poetry in a world that still grapples with genocide.
Tags: Poetry | After: Poetry Destroys Silence | movie trailer | documentary | Cornelius Eady | Edward Hirsh | Melissa Leo | Géza Röhrig | 2024 -
Watch the film trailer for Queer, a film adaptation of William S. Burroughs’s 1985 novel of the same name. Directed by Luca Guadagnino with a screenplay by Justin Kuritzkes, the film stars Daniel Craig, Drew Starkey, Lesley Manville, and Jason Schwartzman.
Tags: Fiction | Queer | film adaptation | movie trailer | William S. Burroughs | 2024 -
Watch the trailer for the short film Greta, directed by Benjamin Font and based on the short story of the same name by Miciah Bay Gault, which was first published in Switchyard magazine.
Tags: Fiction | Greta | short film | short story | Miciah Bay Gault | Switchyard | movie trailer | film adaptation | 2024 -
Watch the trailer for The Supremes at Earl’s All-You-Can-Eat, a film adaptation of the 2013 best-selling novel of the same name by Edward Kelsey Moore. Directed by Tina Mabry, and starring Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, Sanaa Lathan, and Uzo Aduba, the film follows three lifelong best friends through life’s challenges and joys over four decades.
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Watch the Apple TV+ trailer for Lady in the Lake, a film adaptation of the 2019 novel of the same name by Laura Lipmann, directed by Alma Har’el and starring Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram. The thriller mystery takes place in 1960s Baltimore and revolves around two women connected by a mysterious death.
Tags: Fiction | Lady in the Lake | Laura Lippman | movie trailer | film adaptation | Apple TV Plus | thriller | 2024 -
Directed and cowritten by Ethan Hawke, Wildcat is a film based on the short stories and letters of Flannery O’Connor and explores both her characters and her life. Starring Maya Hawke and Laura Linney, the film dramatizes some of O’Connor’s most famous short stories and delves into the author’s craft and faith.
Tags: Fiction | Creative Nonfiction | Wildcat | film adaptation | movie trailer | Flannery O'Connor | Ethan Hawke | 2024 -
All of Us Strangers is a British romantic fantasy film directed by Andrew Haigh and based on the 1987 novel Strangers by Taichi Yamada. Starring Paul Mescal and Andrew Scott, the film follows a screenwriter who develops a relationship with a mysterious neighbor that triggers memories of his past and draws him back to his childhood home.
Tags: Fiction | All of Us Strangers | Strangers | Taichi Yamada | novel | film adaptation | movie trailer | romance | drama | 2023 -
“I remember what’s important and I make up the rest. That’s what storytelling is all about.” This HBO Original documentary takes a look at the life of legendary poet and activist Nikki Giovanni. The award-winning film is directed and written by Joe Brewster and Michèle Stephenson, and includes readings by executive producer Taraji P. Henson.
Tags: Poetry | Nikki Giovanni | Going to Mars: The Nikki Giovanni Project | documentary | movie trailer | HBO | Sundance | 2023 -
Leave the World Behind is a film adaptation of the 2020 best-selling novel of the same name by Rumaan Alam. The psychological, dystopian thriller directed by Sam Esmail stars Mahershala Ali, Kevin Bacon, Ethan Hawke, Myha’la, and Julia Roberts.
Tags: Fiction | Leave the World Behind | Rumaan Alam | novel | film adaptation | movie trailer | Netflix | 2023 -
American Fiction is a film adaptation of Percival Everett’s 2001 novel Erasure, a satire about a frustrated Black author and professor who uses a pen name to write a successful book playing into racial stereotypes and tropes. Directed by Cord Jefferson, the film stars Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, and Sterling K. Brown.
Tags: Fiction | American Fiction | film adaptation | movie trailer | Percival Everett | Erasure | novel | satire | 2023 -
“He’s been such a mirror for pop culture, but now he’s his own pop culture.” In this trailer for King on Screen, a documentary about the many film and television adaptations of Stephen King’s stories and novels, directors and screenwriters discuss what makes King the master of horror.
Tags: Fiction | King on Screen | Stephen King | horror | short story | novel | movie trailer | documentary | film adaptation | 2023 -
Eileen is a psychological thriller film based on Ottessa Moshfegh’s award-winning debut novel of the same name, with a screenplay by the author and her husband Luke Goebel. Directed by William Oldroyd and starring Anne Hathaway and Thomasin McKenzie, the film is set in a 1960s juvenile detention facility and follows the life of a young correctional officer and her entanglements with a charming prison psychologist.
Tags: Fiction | Eileen | Ottessa Moshfegh | novel | film adaptation | movie trailer | thriller | 2023 -
Directed by Martin Scorsese, this film adaptation of journalist David Grann’s 2017 book Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI stars Robert DeNiro, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Lily Gladstone. Set in 1920s Oklahoma, the film depicts the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation.
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Watch the trailer for Dune: Part Two, the second chapter of the film saga adaptation of Frank Herbert’s iconic 1965 science fiction novel. The film is directed by Denis Villeneuve and stars Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, and Florence Pugh.
Tags: Fiction | Dune | Dune: Part Two | movie trailer | film adaptation | 2023 | Frank Herbert | science fiction | 1965 -
Watch the trailer for the theatrical adaptation of the Tony Award-winning musical The Color Purple, based on Alice Walker’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel of the same name. Directed by Blitz Bazawule with a screenplay by poet and playwright Marcus Gardley, the film stars Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks, Halle Bailey, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, H.E.R., Phylicia Pearl Mpasi, and Taraji P. Henson.
Tags: Fiction | The Color Purple | Alice Walker | musical | film adaptation | movie trailer | 2023 | Marcus Gardley | Blitz Bazawule