Tuesday, April 11, 2023
7:30 PM

Jonathan Franzen was originally known for writing nonfiction, but when The Corrections was published in 2001, it became an international bestseller and won the National Book Award for fiction. His next novel, Freedom, was featured on the cover of Time magazine; the New York Times called it "a masterpiece of American fiction," and Oprah chose it as her book club pick. Crossroads: A Novel, is a national bestseller and was named Best Book of the Year by former President Barack Obama, Newsweek, NPR and The Washington Post. It was also named one of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2021.

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Thursday, May 4, 2023
7:30 PM

Elif Batuman’s writing has been described as witty and concise. Her critically acclaimed collection, The Possessed: Adventures with Russian Books and the People Who Read Them, was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. The New York Times praised the book as “hilarious, wide-ranging, erudite and memorable.” Either/Or, the much-anticipated sequel to Elif’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated book, The Idiot, was released in March 2022.

The New York Times bestselling author, Gary Shteyngart, is known for writing satire. His first novel, The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, published in 2002, received the Stephen Crane Award for First Fiction and the National Jewish Book Award. Shteyngart’s second novel, Absurdistan, was named one best books of the year by Time, The Washington Post and The Chicago Tribune. His most recent novel, Our Country Friends, was released in November 2021.

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Monday, June 19, 2023
7:30 PM

Silvia Moreno-Garcia, the author of several critically acclaimed novels, is Mexican by birth and Canadian by inclination. Her novel, Gods of Jade and Shadow, won the Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic and the Ignyte Award. The New York Times bestseller, Mexican Gothic, published in 2020, was named "One of the Best Books of the Year" by The New Yorker, NPR and The Washington Post. Mexican Gothic also won the 2020 Goodreads Award, Locus Award and the British Fantasy Award. Her latest novel is The Daughter of Doctor Moreau.

Tuesday, September 20, 2022
7:30 PM

Marlon James is known for writing novels that explore Jamaican history through the perspectives of multiple narrators and genres. In 2015, he won the Man Booker Prize for Fiction for A Brief History of Seven Killings, making him the first Jamaican author to take home the U.K.'s most prestigious literary award. His second novel, The Book of the Night Woman, won the 2010 Dayton Literary Peace Prize and was a finalist for the 2010 National Book Critics Circle Award in fiction and an NAACP Image Award. Black Leopard, Red Wolf, a bestseller and the first book in Dark Star Trilogy, received the Ray Bradbury Prize for Science Fiction, the 2020 Locus Award for Horror, and the Washington Post named it 10 Best Books in 2019. The much anticipated second book in the series, Moon Witch, Spider King, was released in February 2022.

Tuesday, October 25, 2022
7:30 PM

An American novelist, essayist, and poet, Barbara Kingsolver is known for writing novels focusing on social justice, biodiversity, and the interaction between humans and their communities and environments. In 1988, Kingsolver published her first novel, The Bean Trees, and in 1993, she published her first national bestseller, Pigs in Heaven. Since then, each of her books has been on The New York Times bestseller list. Former President Bill Clinton awarded Kingsolver the National Humanities Medal after publishing her most famous novel, The Poisonwood Bible in 1998. She also won the U.K.'s Orange Prize for Fiction in 2010 and was nominated for the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Pulitzer Prize. Her most recent novel, Demon Copperhead, will be released in October 2022.

Monday, November 7, 2022
7:30 PM

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Presidential historian Jon Meacham is one of America's most prominent public intellectuals. With a depth of knowledge about politics, history, religion, and current affairs, Meacham has the unique ability to bring historical context to issues and events that impact our daily lives. As the author of several #1 New York Times bestsellers, Meacham has written acclaimed books about Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, George H.W. Bush and civil rights icon John Lewis. His latest book, And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle, will be published in the fall of 2022.