The Cambridge Public Library will welcome Cambridge-based authors Gish Jen, Claire Messud, Virginia Pye, and Laura Zigman for a conversation about Cambridge as inspiration in their writing. This event will take place in the Main Library lecture hall on Monday, November 6, from 7-8:30 p.m. Registration is required.
Gish Jen is the author of one previous book of stories, five novels, and two works of nonfiction. Her most recent book is Thank You, Mr. Nixon, a collection of stories spanning the fifty years since the opening of China to the West. Her stories have appeared in The Best American Short Stories four times, including The Best American Short Stories of the Century; she has also delivered the William E. Massey, Sr., Lectures in American Studies at Harvard University.
Claire Messud’s novels include The Emperor’s Children, a New York Times Book of the Year in 2006 and The Burning Girl, a finalist for the LA Times Book Award in Fiction. She is also the author of a book of novellas, The Hunters, and a memoir-in-essays, Kant’s Little Prussian Head & Other Reasons Why I Write. Her work has been translated into over twenty languages. Her next novel, This Strange Eventful History, will be published by W.W. Norton in May 2024.
Laura Zigman is the author of six novels, including Small World, Separation Anxiety and Animal Husbandry, which was made into the movie Someone Like You starring Hugh Jackman and Ashley Judd. She has also ghostwritten/collaborated on several works of nonfiction, including Eddie Izzard’s New York Times bestseller, Believe Me. She lives in Cambridge.
Virginia Pye is an award-winning author of novels and short stories. Her short story collection, Shelf Life of Happiness, won the 2019 Independent Publisher Gold Medal for Short Fiction, while two historical novels set in China—Dreams of the Red Phoenix and River of Dust—also received awards. Virginia’s essays have appeared in The New York Times, LitHub and The Rumpus. Her most recent novel, The Literary Undoing of Victoria Swann, was published in October 2023.
This event is a collaboration between Porter Square Books, History Cambridge, and the Cambridge Public Library.
About the Cambridge Public Library:
At the Cambridge Public Library, we welcome all, inspire minds and empower community. We support a Cambridge where everyone has equitable opportunities to learn, people live their best lives and democracy thrives. The Library’s programming provides an opportunity for civic dialogue, conversation and learning, which includes exploring a wide range of views. Visit our website to learn more.
The City of Cambridge does not discriminate, including on the basis of disability. We may provide auxiliary aids and services, written materials in alternative formats, and reasonable modifications in policies and procedures to people with disabilities. For more information contact us at library@cambridgema.gov, 617-349-4032 (voice), or via relay at 711.