William & Mary Crim Dell Association Book Talk With Author Rebecca Makkai
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 16, 2022 | NOON-1 P.M. ET
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Join award-winning author Rebecca Makkai for a virtual author’s talk about her novel, “The Great Believers.” Based in Chicago in the 1980s, the book centers on the AIDS epidemic. This story of friendship and redemption in the face of tragedy was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and has received critical acclaim including the ALA Carnegie Medal, the Chicago Review of Books Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. Rebecca holds an M.A. in literature from Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English. After the talk, there will be time to ask questions and engage with Rebecca.
Thank you to Jon Fox ’72 for bringing this programming idea to the William & Mary Crim Dell Association!
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Crim Dell Alumni Book Talk with Author Rebecca Makkai
Author Rebecca Makkai will host a virtual book talk about her work, "The Great Believers."
3/16/2022
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Speaker Biography
Join multi-award winning author Rebecca Makkai for a virtual author’s talk of her book, The Great Believers. The Great Believers was a finalist for both the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award, and won six additional critically acclaimed awards. Rebecca holds an MA in Literature from Middlebury College’s Bread Loaf School of English. Thank you to Jon Fox ’72 for bringing this programming idea to the William & Mary Crim Dell Association!
Excerpt from The Great Believers
A NOVEL OF FRIENDSHIP AND REDEMPTION IN THE FACE OF TRAGEDY:
In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for a Chicago art gallery, is about to pull off a coup, bringing an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDs epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico’s funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico’s little sister.
Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago epidemic, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways the AIDS crisis affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. Yale and Fiona’s intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of 80’s and the chaos of the modern world, as both struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster.
The audience is encouraged to engage with the author’s talk before the conversation with Rebecca about her work.