Book talks: WBEZ Chicago brings three intimate author conversations to the stage this winter & spring

Lineup includes award-winning novelist Rebecca Makkai, NPR journalist Ari Shapiro, and musician and author Michelle Zauner

Book talks: WBEZ Chicago brings three intimate author conversations to the stage this winter & spring

Lineup includes award-winning novelist Rebecca Makkai, NPR journalist Ari Shapiro, and musician and author Michelle Zauner

CHICAGO (February 1, 2023) – WBEZ Chicago is pleased to bring three authors to the stage as part of its Winter and Spring 2023 events lineup. Award-winning novelist Rebecca Makkai, NPR journalist Ari Shapiro, and musician and author Michelle Zauner will join WBEZ for intimate conversations about their books, careers and lives.

WBEZ’s three author events include:

I Have Some Questions for You: A Conversation with Rebecca Makkai and Lindsay Hunter

  • Saturday, Feb. 25, 6:30-7:45 p.m. at the Apollo Theater, 2550 N. Lincoln Ave., Chicago, Ill., 60614. Tickets are $12-$40.

  • Register here.

This February, WBEZ is partnering with Exile in Bookville for the release of I Have Some Questions for You, by award-winning author Rebecca Makkai. She will be joined in conversation by Lindsay Hunter at the historic Apollo Theatre, located in the heart of Lincoln Park.

In I Have Some Questions for You, Makkai has crafted her most irresistible novel yet: a stirring investigation into collective memory and a deeply felt examination of one woman’s reckoning with her past, with a transfixing mystery at its heart. Timely, hypnotic, and populated with a cast of unforgettable characters, I Have Some Questions for You is at once a compulsive page-turner and a literary triumph.

Copies of the book can be pre-ordered directly from Exile in Bookville (with no service fees) and will also be available at the event. A book signing will follow the conversation.

The Best Strangers in the World: Ari Shapiro and Peter Sagal

  • Wednesday, March 29, 7-9 p.m. at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., Chicago, Ill., 60613. Admission is $55.

  • Register here.

In March, WBEZ is hosting award-winning NPR journalist Ari Shapiro for an evening of conversation about his new memoir, The Best Strangers in the World. On stage at the historic Music Box Theatre, he will be joined by Peter Sagal, host of NPR’s Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me, for an intimate conversation about Shapiro’s personal experiences and lifetime of storytelling.

The host of All Things Considered is known for his adventurous spirit and insatiable curiosity, which has served him well whether he’s traveling on Air Force One with President Obama, navigating war-torn countries, or following community leaders fighting for social justice. The Best Strangers in the World, details all of this and more in captivating essays and is a true love letter to journalism.

Tickets to this event include a signed copy of The Best Strangers in the World (published by HarperOne, a $29 value), provided by Exile in Bookville.

Crying in H Mart - An Evening with Michelle Zauner

  • Tuesday, April 4, 7-8 p.m. at the Music Box Theatre, 3733 N. Southport Ave., Chicago, Ill., 60613.

  • Register here.

Two years after the release of her acclaimed memoir, Crying in H Mart, WBEZ will host Michelle Zauner this April for an in-person discussion at the Music Box Theatre.

In an exquisite story of family, food, grief, and endurance, Zauner proves herself as far more than a dazzling singer, songwriter, and guitarist best known for fronting the band Japanese Breakfast. With humor and heart, she describes growing up as one of the few Asian American kids at her school in Eugene, Oregon; struggling with her mother’s high expectations of her; and treasured months spent in her grandmother’s tiny apartment in Seoul where Zauner and her mother would bond over heaping plates of food.

As she moved to the East Coast for college, began performing gigs with her fledgling band and met the man who would become her husband, Zauner’s Korean identity began to feel ever more distant — even as she found the life she wanted to live. It was her mother’s diagnosis of terminal cancer that inspired her to reclaim the gifts of taste, language, and history her mother had given her.

Since the release of Crying in H Mart, Zauner has begun the process of adapting her memoir into a feature film — all while earning Grammy nominations for her work with Japanese Breakfast and recording a score for the stylish sci-fi video game, Sable.

Pre-signed copies of the paperback, Crying in H Mart, will be available for purchase through Exile in Bookville.

For more about WBEZ’s live events, visit www.wbez.org/events.