Event Program
Power and Storytelling with Margaret Atwood & Min Jin Lee
POWER AND STORYTELLING WITH MARGARET ATWOOD & MIN JIN LEE
TUE, OCT 15
Margaret Atwood and Min Jin Lee in conversation with Veronica Chambers
A CONVERSATION WITH THE AUDIENCE
Ask Margaret Atwood or Min Jin Lee a Question!
Do you have a question you've been dying to ask? Submit it here, and they just might answer live, onstage at Symphony Space!
Books by tonight’s authors are available at the back of the theater. There will not be a book signing.
Produced in Cooperation with Moment of Lift Books and the Carol Shields Prize for Fiction.
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The Artists
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. Her novels include Cat’s Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid’s Tale, was followed in 2019 by a sequel, The Testaments, which was a global number one bestseller and won the Booker Prize. In 2020 she published Dearly, her first collection of poetry for a decade. Atwood has won numerous awards including the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In 2019 she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright, and puppeteer. Atwood’s latest short story collection, Old Babes in the Wood, and her poetry collection Paper Boat: New and Selected Poems: 1961-2023 were published in 2023.
Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. Her novels include Cat’s Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid’s Tale, was followed in 2019 by a sequel, The Testaments, which was a global number one bestseller and won the Booker Prize. In 2020 she published Dearly, her first collection of poetry for a decade. Atwood has won numerous awards including the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. In 2019 she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright, and puppeteer. Atwood’s latest short story collection, Old Babes in the Wood, and her poetry collection Paper Boat: New and Selected Poems: 1961-2023 were published in 2023.
Veronica Chambers
Veronica Chambers is the editor of Projects and Collaborations at The New York Times. She is the author of several books, including Mama’s Girl, a critically acclaimed memoir, and Ida, in Love and in Trouble, her first historical novel, which was published in September 2024. Chambers has been the recipient of several fellowships and awards, including the Hodder fellowship for emerging novelists at Princeton University, a National Endowment for the Arts fiction award, and a Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford.
Veronica Chambers is the editor of Projects and Collaborations at The New York Times. She is the author of several books, including Mama’s Girl, a critically acclaimed memoir, and Ida, in Love and in Trouble, her first historical novel, which was published in September 2024. Chambers has been the recipient of several fellowships and awards, including the Hodder fellowship for emerging novelists at Princeton University, a National Endowment for the Arts fiction award, and a Knight Journalism Fellowship at Stanford.
Min Jin Lee
Min Jin Lee is the author of the novels Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko, a finalist for the National Book Award and runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Pachinko was voted a New York Times 100 Best Books of the Century by both The New York Times Book Review and Times Readers. In 2022, Lee received the Manhae Grand Prize for Literature, the Bucheon Diaspora Literary Award, and the Samsung Happiness for Tomorrow Award for Creativity from South Korea. She is the recipient of fellowships in Fiction from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study at Harvard, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Lee is an inductee of the New York Foundation for the Arts Hall of Fame and the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. In 2023, Lee served as the Editor of Best American Short Stories. Her personal essays and literary criticism have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, Wall Street Journal, Travel & Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, Vogue, and The Times of London. She is a Writer-in-Residence at Amherst College. Lee is at work on her third novel, American Hagwon, and a nonfiction work, Name Recognition.
Min Jin Lee is the author of the novels Free Food for Millionaires and Pachinko, a finalist for the National Book Award and runner-up for the Dayton Literary Peace Prize. Pachinko was voted a New York Times 100 Best Books of the Century by both The New York Times Book Review and Times Readers. In 2022, Lee received the Manhae Grand Prize for Literature, the Bucheon Diaspora Literary Award, and the Samsung Happiness for Tomorrow Award for Creativity from South Korea. She is the recipient of fellowships in Fiction from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Radcliffe Institute of Advanced Study at Harvard, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. Lee is an inductee of the New York Foundation for the Arts Hall of Fame and the New York State Writers Hall of Fame. In 2023, Lee served as the Editor of Best American Short Stories. Her personal essays and literary criticism have appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, The New Yorker, The New York Review of Books, Wall Street Journal, Travel & Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, Vogue, and The Times of London. She is a Writer-in-Residence at Amherst College. Lee is at work on her third novel, American Hagwon, and a nonfiction work, Name Recognition.
MORE INFORMATION
Moment of Lift Books, created by Melinda French Gates in partnership with Flatiron Books, is an imprint dedicated to publishing original nonfiction by visionaries working to unlock a more equal world for women and girls. The imprint draws its name from Melinda’s first book, The Moment of Lift, published with Flatiron in 2019.
The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction is the largest literary prize in the world celebrating creativity and excellence in fiction by women and non-binary writers in Canada and the United States, awarding $150,000 USD to its winner, and $12,500 USD to each of its four finalists.
The Carol Shields Prize for Fiction aims to address the continued inequality of women in the literary world. Novels, short story collections, and graphic novels written by women and non-binary authors and published in the United States and Canada are eligible for the Prize.
The Prize also offers mentorships, scholarships, residencies, bursaries, and other forms of financial assistance with a particular focus on providing financial support for BIPOC and emerging writers.
Co-founded by Susan Swan, C.M., Janice Zawerbny, and Don Oravec in 2012, the Prize presented its inaugural award in 2023 to Fatimah Asghar for When We Were Sisters; the 2024 winner was V.V. Ganeshananthan for Brotherless Night. Learn more about each years’ Longlist, Shortlist, and Winner here.
Susan Swan, Co-Founder
Julie Jacobson, Board Chair
Alexandra Skoczylas, CEO (she/her)
Emily Kellogg, Program and Operations Manager (she/her)
Natália Affonso, Marketing and Development Coordinator (she/they)
This program is made possible thanks to the generous support of Susan Bay Nimoy, Seedlings Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Blanchette Hooker Rockefeller Fund, Charina Endowment Fund, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, PECO Foundation, Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina, Michael Tuch Foundation, Jody and John Arnhold and the Arnhold Foundation, The Grodzins Fund, and The Isambard Kingdom Brunel Society of North America.
This program is also made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature.
Symphony Space thanks our generous supporters, including our Board of Directors, Producers Circle, and members, who make our programs possible with their annual support.
Special thanks to Emily Kellogg, Alex Morgan, Will Schwalbe, Alexandra Skoczylas, and Susan Swan.
Kathy Landau Executive Director
Peg Wreen Managing Director
Isaiah Sheffer*
Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978-1990)
Artistic Director (1990-2010)
Founding Artistic Director (2010-2012)
Allan Miller
Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director (1978-1990)
Jennifer Brennan Director of Literary Programs
Drew Richardson Lead Producer of Literary Programs
Vivienne Woodward Producer of Literary Programs
Mary Shimkin Director of Broadcast & Literary Initiatives
Matthew Love Consultant for Literary Programs
Magdalene Wrobleski Literary Assistant
Leigh Reid Literary Intern
Mia Testa Literary Intern
*in memoriam
