Pandemic Stories

What draws us to pandemic stories? Writers and experts explore the past, present, and future of quarantine writing.

FEATURING 

• Moderator Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone


• Peng Shepherd, author of The Book of M


• Laura van den Berg, author of Find Me


• Mike Chen, author of A Beginning at the End

The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked overwhelming interest in books and films depicting pandemics, contagion, and other biological threats. From The Decameron to The Stand, pandemics have a long history in literature. Why are we drawn to these stories? What can they tell us about the moment we're experiencing?

A panel of authors and editors convene (socially distanced!) to discuss the genre’s power and relevance. Bestselling author Richard Preston, whose book The Hot Zone chronicles the emergence of the Ebola virus, leads the conversation.

ABOUT THE SPEAKERS

Richard Preston is a bestselling author of 10 books, nonfiction and fiction, whose works reveal hidden worlds of nature and wonder.  His books have been published in more than 35 languages.  Preston is a contributor to the The New Yorker, and all of his nonfiction books have first appeared as articles there.

Peng Shepherd  was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, where she rode horses and trained in classical ballet, and has lived in Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, London, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, New York, and Las Vegas.  Her first novel, The Book of M, won the 2019 Neukom Institute for Literary Arts Award for Debut Speculative Fiction. A graduate of the NYU MFA program, Peng is the recipient of a 2020 fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Laura van den Berg is the author of the story collections What the World Will Look Like When All the Water Leaves Us and The Isle of Youth, and the novels Find Me and The Third Hotel, which was a finalist for the New York Public Library Young Lions Fiction Award. Her new collection of stories, I Hold a Wolf by the Ears, was published by FSG in July. Born and raised in Florida, Laura splits her time between the Boston area and Central Florida, with her husband and dog.

Mike Chen is the author of Here And Now And Then, A Beginning At The End, and We Could Be Heroes, and his short fiction is featured in Star Wars: From A Certain Point Of View. A member of SFWA, Mike lives in the Bay Area with his wife, daughter, and rescue animals.

GET THE BOOKS
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Readers everywhere who wish to purchase these books can do so at The New York Public Library Shop. All proceeds benefit The New York Public Library. Plus, receive a free 125th Anniversary tote bag with your purchase!

This program will be streamed on Zoom. You must register with your email address in order to receive the link to participate. Please check your email shortly before the discussion to receive the link. Captions for this event will be provided.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM
Branching Out is a series of online author talks hosted by New York Public Library neighborhood branches.

Explore new literary worlds and connect with local community at author talks and panel conversations. Learn more at nypl.org/authortalks.

For questions and inquiries, please contact branchprograms@nypl.org.

PUBLIC NOTICE AND DISCLAIMER
This Program uses a third-party website link. By clicking on the third-party website link, you will leave NYPL’s website and enter a website not operated by NYPL. We encourage you to review the privacy policies of every third-party website or service that you visit or use, including those third parties with whom you interact with through our Library services. For more information about these third-party links, please see the section of NYPL's Privacy Policy describing "Third-Party Library Services Providers" at https://www.nypl.org/help/about-nypl/legal-notices/privacy-policy.

During this Program, you will be using third-party platforms such as Zoom for the purpose of communication. This service may collect some personally identifying information about you, such as name, username, email address, & password. This service will treat the information it collects about you pursuant to its own privacy policy, which can be found here: Google Privacy Policy, Zoom Privacy Policy.