Novels and the News: Amitava Kumar with Robert Boynton, Francine Prose, and Parul Sehgal
Hosted by Greenlight Bookstore
Greenlight hosts writer and journalist Amitava Kumar for a special panel discussion in honor of his newest novel, A Time Outside This Time. Kumar channels Orwell in a metafictional narrative that follows professor and author Satya in writing a new novel, Enemies of the People, about the lies we tell ourselves and one another. A brilliant interrogation on life in a post-truth era and an attempt to imagine a time outside this one, A Time Outside This Time chronicles a writer’s creative response to the daily onslaught of fake news, memory, and the ways in which truth gives over to fiction.
Author and journalist Robert Boynton (The New New Journalism), novelist and critic Francine Prose (The Vixen), and The New Yorker staff writer Parul Sehgal join Kumar for a virtual roundtable on the state of journalism, the power of the novel, and the challenge today of writing fiction in an age when we are surrounded by the fiction that is fake news.
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Founded in October 2009 by Rebecca Fitting and Jessica Stockton Bagnulo, Greenlight Bookstore is an independent bookstore in Brooklyn, New York. Combining the best traditions of the neighborhood bookstore with carefully curated, community-minded events, Greenlight has earned a reputation as a literary destination. Greenlight has continued to serve its community during the COVID-19 pandemic with a diverse array of virtual events, and has been inspired by the movements for racial justice across the country to engage in the work of becoming a more anti-racist company. Learn more at greenlightbookstore.com or check them out @greenlightbklyn.
