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Franz Kafka’s The Castle with Martha Cooley
4 Sessions Sundays, 11:00 am EDT - 12:30 pm EDT July 12 to August 23, 2026
Online | Published a century ago, this comic, unsettling, and superbly strange novel has a lot to say to readers now about bureaucracy... -
The Center for Fiction Presents De'Shawn Charles Winslow on The Fervent Whites with Samantha Hunt
Thursday, 7:00 pm EDT July 9, 2026
We’re pleased to welcome De’Shawn Charles Winslow, winner of our 2019 First Novel Prize for In West Mills, back... -
The Center for Fiction Presents Valeria Luiselli on Beginning Middle End
Tuesday, 7:00 pm EDT July 28, 2026
Don’t miss acclaimed author Valeria Luiselli (Lost Children Archive, The Story of My Teeth) when she visits...
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Featured
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Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Aurora Leigh with Joanna Biggs
Once a week Thursdays, 6:30 pm EDT - 8:00 pm EDT July 16 to August 6, 2026
In Person | Discover why this dazzling verse novel was a formative influence on Virginia Woolf, Emily Dickinson, Susan B -
In Short: Isaac Bashevis Singer's "The Dead Fiddler" with Richard Klin
Monday, 7:00 pm EDT - 8:30 pm EDT July 20, 2026
Online | A vivid, macabre story—and a perfect introduction to Singer’s work—this tale plunges into the world of Eastern European... -
The Unlived Life: Novels of Midlife Escape with Jennifer Stock
3 Sessions Tuesdays, 6:00 pm EDT - 7:30 pm EDT July 28 to September 8, 2026
In Person | Explore three landmark novels that chronicle midlife escapes centered on transgression and pose serious questions about the...
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Bookstore Picks
The Heat of the Day
Three of our fiction selections this week are from some of our favorite smaller presses who consistently discover indispensable... -
Bookstore Picks
Inner and Outer Space
Welcome to the inner workings of friends and family. This week we feature a Big Chill gathering of old friends during... -
Bookstore Picks
Prejudice and Pride
This week’s titles explore race, sexuality, and ethics: an upstate hamlet is unsettled by the return of a couple imprisoned... -
Bookstore Picks
Our Search for Meaning
We celebrate the beginning of the summer season with five novels that explore the meaning of life. One is a twisted take on a... -
Bookstore Picks
Meeting New People
This week’s newsletter shares its title with one of the featured novels, and it is apt: you will encounter some very memorable... -
Bookstore Picks
Strangers in Strange Lands
This week we observe both fictional and real characters who have been influenced by their travels to unfamiliar places near and far -
Bookstore Picks
Astonish Me
Irish noir, Danish divorce, Nigerian hauntings, a Bible-based female empowerment story, and women in Depression-era Mississippi... -
Bookstore Picks
Dreams of Escape
A grieving young woman in the 1980s Midwest longs to escape her life and complete her dead uncle’s unfinished computer game... -
Bookstore Picks
Crimes of the Heart
There is a bit of tugging at the heartstrings this week. We celebrate the happy return of a prize-winning Scottish novelist with... -
Bookstore Picks
Taking Place
This week, we have two novels featured in upcoming events at The Center: a gorgeous and poignant story about sisters in Brazil... -
Bookstore Picks
Life Lessons
This week features three novelists with well-earned reputations for offering tips on living. We have the return, after a decade... -
Bookstore Picks
Care and Feeding
Three of this week’s books concern London: an investigation into a mysterious death; a novel exploring friendship and the... -
Bookstore Picks
Almost Famous
Three novels this week touch on fame: we have a slim yet potent book concerning a famous, aging writer; a group of midlife female... -
Bookstore Picks
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The five novels this week introduce characters—parents, siblings, friends, and enemies—who span a wide range of circumstances... -
Bookstore Picks
Larger Than Life
Two of The Center’s upcoming programs launch books from this week’s selection: a much-anticipated conversation with a... -
Bookstore Picks
Fierce Attachments
The week’s selection consists of five novels whose characters create powerful bonds that define their lives -
Bookstore Picks
Through It All
The five books this week remind us how, despite life’s obstacles, we carry on. Whether through a memoir composed of staccato... -
Bookstore Picks
Going to Great Lengths
One does not have to write a long book to be worthy of acclaim. But readers increasingly seek out books of a certain length—whether... -
Bookstore Picks
Place Settings
Sometimes I read based on the setting—location and circumstance can be very persuasive. In the four novels below you’ll find... -
Bookstore Picks
(Self) Discovery
This week’s selection provides much for readers to discover. There are two novels marked by comic genius–one set in the Middle...
