To kick off our 2024 National Endowment of the Arts Big Read initiative, The Center for Fiction welcomes Orange Prize-winning author Madeline Miller to celebrate her brilliant 2018 novel Circe, which masterfully reframes Greek mythology to turn its titular witch into a compelling heroine. Expansive yet intimate, the Red Tentacle Award-winning novel follows Circe across centuries as she witnesses the events of Greek epics—from the birth of the Minotaur to Odysseus’ journey—unfold in front of her as she lives in exile on the island of Aiaia. Joining Miller are Maria Davahna Headley and Rachel Lyon, two authors who are also masterful retellers of old epic stories. Headley, a New York Times bestselling author and translator, has gained acclaim for her contemporary translation of Beowulf which invokes the mood of urban legends, and The Mere Wife, a dystopian retelling of Beowulf set in 21st-century America. Lyon is the author of Fruit of the Dead, an electric modern reimagining of the myth of Persephone and Demeter. Her debut novel, Self-Portrait with Boy, was a finalist for the 2018 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize.

Headley, Lyon, and Miller will have a rousing conversation about Circe moderated by Nataly Gruender, author of Medusa, an intimate retelling of its infamous titular villain. The panel will discuss the power of retelling ancient stories for new audiences and how it can return humanity to characters that are stripped of it.

This event is the first in a series of free, dynamic, community-wide programming centered around Circe. This event, along with all of our NEA Big Read programming, is free, but space is limited. Guests will be admitted on a first-come, first-seated basis.

Join Ed Winstead of Guernica, Lou Ann Walker of The Southampton Review, and Rachel Lyon of Epiphany, for a conversation about editing and publishing at literary journals. This event will be broadcast on Stony Brook University’s MFA YouTube channel, Bob’s Writing Shack. Tune in on YouTube on 4/22 at 1 PM.

The aim of this panel is to offer insight and guidance to emerging writers of literary fiction, creative nonfiction, and memoir. The general topic will focus on the working relationships between a writer, an agent, and an editor. In particular, it will emphasize both the individual roles in the evolution of the book from manuscript to publication and also the team effort that took place throughout the book's publication journey. Panel discussion will feature Molly Dektar (author of The Ash Family: A Novel), her agent, PJ Mark, and her editor, Emily Graff. Moderated by Rachel Lyon. Learn more at www.clmp.org/lwcnyc-2019/.

The 4th annual Princeton Arts at Work summer program brings together alumni, students and industry professionals in New York City for speaker and panel discussions, artists’ showcases, and social events. Arts at Work is sponsored by the Office of Career Services and the Lewis Center for the Arts. This panel discussion will feature debut novelists Joanne Ramos and Rachel Lyon.

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The year your first book comes out is dizzying. So many questions! (What is good social media etiquette? Do you have to write personal essays? Do you read your reviews?) So many feels! (The honeymoon bliss of signing with an agent. The anguish of asking for blurbs. The joy of depositing an advance. Those inevitable post-launch blues.) On this panel five novelists and short story writers with new books will share our fresh firsthand experience—to help you ride the highs and endure the lows. This AWP panel will be moderated by Rachel Lyon and include debut novelists Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah, Adrienne Celt, Aja Gabel, and Lillian Li.

Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah is from Spring Valley, Rockland County, NY. He is a graduate of the Syracuse MFA program and was the '16-'17 Olive B. O'Connor Fellow in fiction at Colgate University. His fist book, FRIDAY BLACK, is due from Houghton Mifflin Books October 2018.

Adrienne Celt is the author of the novels INVITATION TO A BONFIRE and THE DAUGHTERS, which won the 2015 PEN Southwest Book Award, as well as a collection of comics entitled APOCALYPSE HOW? Her work has appeared in the 2016 O. Henry Prize Stories, Zyzzva, Ecotone, The Kenyon Review, & elsewhere.

Aja Gabel’s debut novel, THE ENSEMBLE, was published by Riverhead in 2018. Her fiction can be found in New England Review, Kenyon Review, BOMB, and elsewhere. She was a 2012-2013 fellow in fiction at the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown and holds a Phd from the University of Houston.

Lillian Li is the author of the novel NUMBER ONE CHINESE RESTAURANT. Her work has been published in Guernica, Granta, Glimmer Train, and Jezebel. Originally from the D.C. metro area, she lives in Ann Arbor.

Final date and time TBD.

RED INK is a quarterly series curated and hosted by Michele Filgate. This dynamic series focuses on women writers, past and present. The next discussion, “Envy,” will feature Min Jin Lee (Pachinko), Jamie Quatro (Fire Sermon), Taylor Larsen (Stranger, Father, Beloved), Kate Tuttle (president of the National Book Critics Circle), and Rachel Lyon (Self-Portrait with Boy).

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