Virtual Unpacking the Book: Jewish Writers in Conversation
Is This the Beginning or the End? An Exploration of Starting Over
What do you do when your life takes an 180 degree turn, and suddenly, everything you thought you knew, you don’t? Join Ben Markovits and Jessica Brilliant Keener in a conversation with Stephanie Butnick about major life changes, finding yourself when your world turns around, and what we learn about ourselves when everything we thought we knew changes in a moment.
About the speakers:
Ben Markovits was born in California, and grew up in Texas, London and Berlin. The Rest of Our Lives is his twelfth novel and was a finalist for the Booker Prize. His previous novels include Fathers and Daughters, You Don’t Have to Live Like This, and The Sidekick. He has published essays, stories, poetry, and reviews in The Guardian, Granta, The Paris Review, and The New York Times, among others. In 2013, Granta selected him as one of their Best of Young British Novelists and in 2015 he won the Eccles British Library Writer in Residence Award and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize. He lives in London and teaches creative writing at Royal Holloway, University of London.
Jessica Brilliant Keener’s bestselling debut novel, Night Swim, was followed by her collection of award-winning stories, Women in Bed. Her second novel, Strangers in Budapest, was an Indie Next pick, a Southern Independent Bookseller Association bestseller, and a “best new book” selection by Entertainment Weekly. She has been listed in The Pushcart Prize under ‘outstanding writers’ and granted writing fellowships from the Massachusetts Cultural Council, Brown University, Wesleyan University, the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, as well as a women’s leadership fellowship from the Omega Institute in New York. Her more than 100 feature articles and essays have appeared in The Boston Globe, Lilith magazine, Psychology Today, and the anthology: Alone Together, winner of the 2021 Washington State Book Prize. Jessica lives with her husband, an attorney, in Brookline, MA.
This event is in partnership with the Jewish Book Council, the Jewish Museum, and GOLDA, your Jewish Lifestyle Guide.
Tickets: Free with RSVP
Courtesy of the Jewish Museum
