Rachel Kushner with Paul Schrader: Prison Complex

Bestselling author Rachel Kushner joins LIVE to discuss her most recent novel, The Mars Room, set in a women’s correctional facility deep within California’s Central Valley. Romy Hall is at the start of two consecutive life sentences and severed from the San Francisco of her youth and her young son, Jackson. Inside is a new reality: thousands of women hustling for the bare essentials needed to survive; the bluffing and pageantry and casual acts of violence by guards and prisoners alike; and the deadpan absurdities of institutional living, which Kushner evokes with great humor and precision. Kushner will speak with screenwriter and director Paul Schrader.

This event is co-presented with the Onassis Cultural Center New York as part of Birds: A Festival Inspired by Aristophanes.

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Engage with the brightest at The New York Public Library’s premier cultural series! LIVE from the NYPL offers conversations with notable writers, artists, and leaders, hosted by Paul Holdengräber. Learn more about LIVE and our upcoming events.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the speaker(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of The New York Public Library.