Frontlist | Some Great Virtual Book Events Of This Week: Nov. 9-15

on Nov 09, 2020

Oprah chats with Emmanuel Acho, Margaret Atwood chats with Rumaan Alam, a stellar cast reads from The Best American Short Stories 2020, and much more.

Monday, Nov. 9

Ibram X. Kendi discusses How to Be an Antiracist with WBEZ journalist Natalie Moore — hosted by multiple Chicago independent bookstores and libraries, 6 p.m. CT.

Carl Hiaasen discusses Squeeze Me with Karen Russell — presented by the Portland Book Festival, 5 p.m. PT. Aimee Bender (The Butterfly Lampshade) and Katie Simpson Smith (The Everlasting) discuss past, present, and memory in fiction — presented by the Texas Book Festival, 6 p.m. CT. Elizabeth Berg I’ll Be Seeing You: A Memoir with Daniel Goldin and Lisa Baudoin — hosted by Boswell Books, 7 p.m. CT. Scott O’Connor discusses Zero Zone with Maria Hummel — hosted by Book Soup, 6 p.m. PT. Merrill Markoe discusses We Saw Scenery: The Early Diaries of Merrill Markoe with Susan Orlean — hosted by Vroman's, 6 p.m. PT.

Tuesday, Nov. 10

Margaret Atwood discusses her new poetry collection Dearly with Rumaan Alam — hosted by Literati, 8 p.m. ET. Brit Bennett (The Vanishing Half) and Bryan Washington (Memorial) discuss family ties in fiction, moderated by Jennifer Baker — presented by the Portland Book Festival, 1 p.m. PT. C.L. Polk reads from and discusses The Midnight Bargain — hosted by A Room of One's Own, 7 p.m. CT. Jessica Goudeau (After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America), Rosayra Pablo Cruz and Julie Schwietert Collazo (The Book of Rosy: A Mother's Story of Separation at the Border), and Francisco Cantú (Dear America: Letters of Hope, Habitat, Defiance, and Democracy) discuss the immigrant experience in the US — presented by the Texas Book Festival, 11:30 a.m. CT. Sigrid Nunez (What Are You Going Through) and Kate Murphy (You're Not Listening: What You're Missing and Why It Matters) discuss empathy, connection, and how we can strengthen our relationships with one another — presented by the Texas Book Festival, 2:30 p.m. CT. Evette Dionne (Lifting As We Climb: Black Women’s Battle for the Ballot Box) and Anne Helen Petersen (Can’t Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation) discuss burnout and politics — presented by the Portland Book Festival, 5:30 p.m. PT.

P. Djèlí Clark (Ring Shout) and Nazanine Hozar (Aria) discuss resistance and uprising in fiction — presented by the Texas Book Festival, 4 p.m. CT. Kiese Laymon discusses How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America with Kai M. Green, Darnell L. Moore, Marlon Peterson, and Mychal Denzel Smith — hosted by The Strand, 7 p.m. ET. Paola Ramos discusses Finding Latinx: In Search of the Voices Redefining Latino Identity with Lupita Aquino of Lupita Reads — co-hosted by Duende District Bookstore and Word Up Community Bookshop, 6 p.m. ET. Gloria Chao (Rent A Boyfriend), Chris Jones (Rise Up!), and Sonali Dev (Recipe for Persuasion) discuss their books in a panel conversation moderated by Andrea Thome — a fundraiser event for Assistance League Chicagoland West, 7 p.m. CT. Melanie Sumrow (The Inside Battle), Adib Khorram (Darius the Great Deserves Better), Mark Oshiro (Each of Us a Desert), Sally J. Pla (Stanley Will Probably Be Fine), Tanya Guerrero (How to Make Friends With the Sea) in a panel discussion about middle grade and YA — hosted by Anderson's Bookshops, 7 p.m. CT. Beverly Daniel Tatum discusses Why Are All the Black Kids Sitting Together in the Cafeteria?: And Other Conversations About Race with Allison Briscoe-Smith — presented by the Common Ground Speaking Series, 4 p.m. PT. Adrienne Raphel discusses Thinking Inside the Box: Adventures with Crosswords and the Puzzling People Who Can't Live Without Them with Daniel Goldin — hosted by Boswell Books, 7 p.m. CT.

Melody Schreiber discusses What We Didn't Expect: Personal Stories about Premature Birth with Tyrese Coleman and Jonathan Freeman-Coppadge — hosted by Loyalty Bookstores, 8 p.m. ET. Becky Cooper discusses We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence with Ron Chernow — hosted by Politics & Prose, 6 p.m. ET.

Wednesday, Nov. 11

Emmanuel Acho discusses Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man with Oprah Winfrey — hosted by Flatiron Books and multiple bookstores, 8 p.m. ET. Curtis Sittenfeld hosts a celebration of The Best American Short Stories, featuring an excerpt from The Special World by Tiphanie Yanique, performed by Hampton Fluker; It's Not You by Elizabeth McCracken, performed by Hope Davis; and Rubberdust by Sarah Thankam Mathews, performed by Purva Bedi — hosted by Symphony Space, 7:30 p.m. ET. Jodi Picoult discusses The Book of Two Ways with Amanda Eyre Ward — presented by the Texas Book Festival, 6 p.m. CT. Kiese Laymon discusses How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America with B. Brian Foster — hosted by Powell's, 5 p.m. PT. Suzanne Park discusses Loathe at First Sight with Alexa Martin — hosted by Parnassus Books, 6 p.m. CT. Nicole Krauss discusses To Be a Man with Joshua Cohen — hosted by Harvard Book Store, 7 p.m. ET. Pamela Sneed discusses Funeral Diva with Saeed Jones — hosted by McNally Jackson, 7 p.m. ET. Maureen Mahon discusses Black Diamond Queens: African American Women and Rock and Roll with Bridgett M. Davis — hosted by Greenlight Bookstore, 7:30 p.m. ET.

Aimee Nezhukumatathil (World of Wonders: In Praise of Fireflies, Whale Sharks, and Other Astonishments) and Andrew Krivak (The Bear) discuss their most recent books in a conversation centered around the environment — hosted by Independent Publishers Caucus and multiple bookstores, 5 p.m. ET. Mona Kareem, Grace Talusan, and Deepak Unnikrishnan discuss immigrant writing in a time of crisis and the anthology And We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again with Ilan Stevens — hosted by Brookline Booksmith, 5 p.m. ET. Chris Stedman discusses IRL: Finding Realness, Meaning, and Belonging in Our Digital Lives with Joel Kim Booster — hosted by Dynasty Typewriter, 6 p.m. PT.

Thursday, Nov. 12

Rumaan Alam (Leave the World Behind) and Jonathan Lethem (The Arrest) discuss post-collapse contemporary dread and family tension in fiction — presented by the Portland Book Festival, 6 p.m. PT. Brit Bennett discusses The Vanishing Half with Dalia Azim — presented by the Texas Book Festival, 10 a.m. CT. Yaa Gyasi discusses Transcendent Kingdom — presented by the Texas Book Festival, 12 p.m. CT. Cory Doctorow (Attack Surface), TJ Klune (The House in the Cerulean Sea), and Jonathan Lethem (The Arrest) read from and discuss their latest books — presented by the Texas Book Festival, 2:30 p.m. CT.

Kevin Kwan discusses Sex and Vanity — presented by the Texas Book Festival, 5:30 p.m. CT. . Kim Gordon discusses Kim Gordon: No Icon with Carrie Brownstein — hosted by Powell's, 5 p.m. PT. Bryan Washington discusses Memorial with Kristen Arnett — hosted by Politics & Prose, 7 p.m. ET. Eula Biss (Having and Being Had), Danielle Evans (The Office of Historical Corrections), Christa Parravani (Loved and Wanted: A Memoir of Choice, Children, and Womanhood), and Sejal Shah (This Is One Way to Dance) in a panel on choices moderated by Michele Filgate — presented by the Red Ink Series, 7 p.m. ET. Jerald Walker (How to Make a Slave and Other Essays) and Robert Atwan (The Best American Essays 2020) discuss their latest books — hosted by Harvard Book Store, 7 p.m. ET.y with Dr. Victoria De Francesco Soto — hosted by BookPeople, 7 p.m. CT. A conversation about Shirley Hazzard's Collected Stories with authors and scholars Brigitta Olubas, Michelle de Kretser, and Robert Pogue Harrison — hosted by McNally Jackson, 7 p.m. ET. Marlee Grace discusses Getting to Center: Pathways Toward Finding Yourself Within the Great Unknown with Erica Chidi — hosted by Skylight Books, 6:30 p.m. PT.

Friday, Nov. 13

David Chang (Eat a Peach) and Lisa Donovan (Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger) discuss their memoirs — presented by the Texas Book Festival, 10 a.m. CT. Anthony Horowitz discusses Moonflower Murders — a fundraiser for the Friends of the Milwaukee Public Library, 2 p.m. CT. Claire Messud (Kant’s Little Prussian Head and Other Reasons Why I Write: An Autobiography in Essays) and Lydia Millet (A Children’s Bible) discuss their works with Alexander Chee — presented by the Portland Book Festival, 2 p.m. PT. Alyssa Cole chats with Alexandria Belleflour (Written in the Stars), Nina Crespo (Her Sweet Temptation), and Rebekah Weatherspoon (If the Boot Fits) — hosted by Loyalty Bookstores, 6 p.m. ET. Tehlor Kay Mejia and Anna-Marie McLemore (Miss Meteor) and Bethany C. Morrow (A Song Below Water) discuss teen heroines, power, and magic with Emilly Prado — presented by the Portland Book Festival, 3:30 p.m. PT. . Vitor Martins discusses Here the Whole Time with Abdi Nazemian — hosted by Books Are Magic, 7 p.m. ET. Becky Cooper discusses We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence with Patrick Radden Keefe — hosted by Harvard Book Store, 7 p.m. ET.

Micah Nemerever discusses These Violent Delights with Sam J. Miller — hosted by Porter Square Books, 7 p.m. ET. Emma Theriault discusses Rebel Rose with Dhonielle Clayton — hosted by Mysterious Galaxy, 6 p.m. PT. Denise Kiernan discusses We Gather Together: A Nation Divided, a President in Turmoil, and a Historic Campaign to Embrace Gratitude and Grace with Wiley Cash — hosted by Parnassus Books, 6 p.m. CT.

Saturday, Nov. 14

Isabel Wilkerson discusses Caste: The Origins of our Discontents with Saeed Jones — presented by the Texas Book Festival, 11:30 a.m. CT. Margaret Atwood discusses her poetry collection Dearly with Natalie Diaz — hosted by Brazos Bookstore, 7 p.m. CT. Natalie Diaz (Postcolonial Love Poem) and Deesha Philyaw (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies) discuss their books — presented by the Texas Book Festival and the National Book Foundation, 2 p.m. CT. Kim Johnson (This Is My America) and Francisco X. Stork (Illegal) discuss the fight for justice in YA novels, moderated by Kenrya Rankin — presented by the Portland Book Festival, 2:30 p.m. PT.

Joy Cox discusses Fat Girls in Black Bodies: Creating Communities of Our Own with Makia Green — hosted by Charis Books & More, 3 p.m. ET.

Sunday, Nov. 15

Debut Texas novelists Bryan Washington (Memorial), Richard Z. Santos (Trust Me), and James Wade (All Things Left Wild) discuss their books – presented by the Texas Book Festival, 10 a.m. CT. Ottessa Moshfegh (Death in Her Hands) and Stephen Graham Jones (The Only Good Indians) discuss characters whose pasts or obsessions haunt them, figuratively and literally — presented by the Texas Book Festival, 2 p.m. CT. Jo Nesbo (The Kingdom) and Michael Connelly (The Law of Innocence) discuss their new books with Oline Cogdill — hosted by Politics & Prose, 1 p.m. ET. Alice Randall presents a virtual happy hour to celebrate her book Black Bottom Saints — hosted by Parnassus Books, 5 p.m. CT.