Get Lit: George Saunders
Join WNYC and The New York Public Library's Get Lit! Book Club, hosted by Alison Stewart from All of It. Each month, New Yorkers come together to read and discuss a popular title, culminating in a live author talk, book discussion, and a special musical performance.
In September, we will be reading Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders!
Description: February 1862. With the Civil War less than one year old, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies gravely ill. In a matter of days, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy’s body. From that seed of historical truth, George Saunders spins an unforgettable story that breaks free of its realistic framework into a thrilling, supernatural realm, deploying a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices—living and dead, historical and invented—to ask a timeless question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?
George Saunders will be joining us for an interview and book signing on Wednesday September 30 at 6 pm in the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library (SNFL). Plus, special performances from the creative team behind the operatic adaptation of Lincoln in the Bardo, set to premiere at the Met Opera this fall. Missy Mazzoli and librettist Royce Vavrek discuss the show, opening October 19.
Tickets are free, but seats are first come, first serve and not guaranteed. Doors open at 5:30 pm
