This event is online.

Awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Obama in 2010, and most recently the coveted French Cino del Duca World Prize, writer Joyce Carol Oates has published more than 50 novels and won countless awards. She is a literary icon.

In conversation with Laila Lalami, Oates joins Kepler’s Literary Foundation on June 30th to discuss Night. Sleep. Death. The Stars.

Oates’ latest novel begins with an incident of police aggression in which a 67-year old white former mayor attempts to intervene on behalf of an Indian American motorist being attacked at the side of the road. The older man is kicked to the ground and tasered at close range. Hospitalized, John Earl McLaren quickly dies of a stroke. Several years in the writing, this novel’s opening feels eerily close to headlines, before transitioning into a literary Knives Out family free-for-all.

The patriarch of a large family, readers follow the tangled lives of McLaren’s widow and her children. Family secrets, hidden tensions, and unexpected prejudices unfold as adult heirs undergo strange grief alongside simultaneous power struggles about money. Amid the furor of her family, McLaren’s widow strains against loss. Oates presents each character with precision, as in the bright lens of death they reveal their own worst natures and deepest wants.

In conversation with Pulitzer and National Book Award finalist Laila Lalami (The Other Americans, The Moor’s Account), Oates discusses the novel, its writing, and the experiences that informed them. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from a master of fiction.

**Registration will close one hour before the event; please reserve your spot early to guarantee access, as registrations are limited.** 

Photo of Joyce Carol Oates by Dustin Cohen. Photo of Laila Lalami by April Rocha.