Poets & Writers Theater

“The novel in general is about what it means to start widening your circles of care.” Jenny Offill talks about her latest novel, Weather (Knopf, 2020), the dread she feels about the climate, and what brings her hope in this interview with Mary Laura Philpott for A Word on Words. Offill speaks about starting the Writers Rebel NYC branch in “Writers Confront Climate Crisis” in the March/April issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“I was writing just about the experience of grief and life amidst dying...then I wanted to tell stories that made my parents alive, that brought them back to life and made it clear why this was such a loss.” In this A Word on Words interview, Margaret Renkl talks about her debut essay collection, Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss (Milkweed Editions, 2019), which is featured in “5 Over 50” in the November/December issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.

“I like questions, my imagination likes them too.” In this A Word on Word series video, Alexander Chee speaks about his essay collection, How to Write an Autobiographical Novel (Mariner Books, 2018), and his writing process which involves engaging in conversation with his fictional characters.

“I really think these characters were with me twenty years before I wrote the book.” In this video for A Word on Words, Ron Rash speaks about the inspiration for his latest novel, The Risen (Ecco, 2016), which centers around a murder in a small North Carolina town in the 1960s.

Weike Wang speaks with Mary Laura Philpott of A Word on Words about her debut novel, Chemistry (Knopf, 2017), and why her main character doesn’t have a name. Wang is a 2017 National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree and a recipient of a 2018 Whiting Award in fiction.

On Nashville Public Television’s A Word on Words, Lisa Ko speaks about her debut novel, The Leavers (Algonquin Books, 2017), which is longlisted for the 2017 National Book Award in fiction.

Megan Abbott speaks about her interest in prodigies, her novel You Will Know Me (Little, Brown, 2016), and her thoughts on the superficiality of genre distinctions for Nashville Public Television’s A Word on Words.

Stephanie Powell Watts talks to Mary Laura Philpott of A Word on Words about how her debut novel, No One Is Coming to Save Us (Ecco, 2017), is just like The Great Gatsby except totally different, and why honest criticism is necessary for a writer.

“The whole engine to my writing is always to try and understand what it feels like to be another person…” Elizabeth Strout, author of Anything Is Possible (Random House, 2017), talks to Mary Laura Philpott of A Word on Words about her attempt at stand-up comedy and what inspires her to write.