Joyce Carol Oates in Conversation with Jonathan Safran Foer: Letters to a Biographer

Join National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Oates (Them, We Were the Mulvaneys, Blonde) on her extraordinary life in letters — and her new book, Letters to a Biographer — with Jonathan Safran Foer (Here I Am, Everything is Illuminated).

One of the most prodigious writers of her generation, Oates is a shapeshifting master of literary forms and genres — working in historical fiction, contemporary gothic short stories, critical essays, or even on social media, Oates has been a towering influence on younger writers for decades. In 1975, one such writer, Greg Johnson, wrote her a letter — beginning an epistolary friendship that evolved as Johnson became her biographer, and continues to this day. Her new book, compiled from these letters, is a funny, heartfelt, and candid look at her remarkable life and craft. Hear her and Foer — her former undergraduate writing student — as they discuss Oates’ career, her influence, and the future of American literature.

Recorded May 19, 2024 at 92nd Street Y, New York.

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