“Person Place Thing” Featuring Jennifer Egan

Presented by MAS and The Center for Fiction

Person Place Thing is an interview show hosted by Randy Cohen based on the idea that people are particularly engaging when they speak, not directly about themselves, but about one person, one place, and one thing with particular meaning to them. The result: surprising stories from great talkers and thinkers. This installment of Person Place Thing, presented by MAS and The Center for Fiction, will be a conversation with the Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jennifer Egan, with musical interludes by Brooklyn locals, Duncan Wickel and Lily Henley.

If you missed this event, you can watch a recording of it on YouTube.

Friday, November 22
7:00 PM — 9:00 PM

Center for Fiction
15 Lafayette Avenue
Brooklyn, NY 11217
(Intersection of Lafayette Avenue and Ashland Place)

Nearest Subways: 2/3/4/5/B/D/N/Q/R at Atlantic Avenue / Barclays Center; G at Fulton; C at Lafayette Avenue

Tickets:
Member: $15
Non-member: $20

  • collage of photos: Jennifer Egan poses on a rooftop, Randy Cohen speaks on stage
    Jennifer Egan (left) and Randy Cohen (right). Photo of Jennifer Egan: Pieter M. Van Hattem. Photo of Randy Cohen: Person Place Thing.
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  • entrance to the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, New York
    Entrance at The Center for Fiction. Photo: Michelle Rose Studios.
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  • book shelves filled with books at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, New York
    Books at The Center for Fiction. Photo: Michelle Rose Studios.
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  • cafe at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn, New York
    Cafe at The Center for Fiction. Photo: Michelle Rose Studios.
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Speakers:
Randy Cohen, Host, Person Place Thing
Jennifer Egan, Author

Randy Cohen’s first professional work was writing humor pieces, essays, and stories for newspapers and magazines (The New Yorker, Harpers, The Atlantic, Young Love Comics). His first television work was writing for Late Night With David Letterman, for which he won three Emmy awards. His fourth Emmy was for his work on Michael Moore’s TV Nation. He received a fifth Emmy as a result of a clerical error, and he kept it. For twelve years he wrote “The Ethicist,” a weekly column for The New York Times Magazine. His most recent book, Be Good: How to Navigate the Ethics of Everything, was published by Chronicle.

Jennifer Egan is the author of Manhattan Beach, a New York Times bestseller, and five previous books of fiction: A Visit from the Goon Squad, which won the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award; The Keep; the story collection Emerald City; Look at Me, a National Book Award finalist; and The Invisible Circus. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, Harper’s Magazine, Granta, McSweeney’s, and The New York Times Magazine.

About The Center for Fiction
The Center for Fiction, now located in downtown Brooklyn’s cultural arts district, is a vibrant home for readers and writers of all ages to convene, create, and connect over a shared love of literature. In February 2019, the 200-year-old literary nonprofit opened its stunning, 18K sq-foot space on 15 Lafayette Avenue in Fort Greene to offer New Yorkers an immersive experience centered around literature. The space includes an exceptional library, thoughtfully curated bookstore, cafe, terrace bar, a writer’s studio, and members lounge for reading and conversation with fellow members and their guests.

The Center has a vast array of valuable resources and events for the public. The First Novel Prize and Emerging Writers Fellowship present meaningful opportunities for early-career authors. The organization also offers year-round reading groups and writing workshops, as well as free communal experiences such as BYO-Book, a silent reading hour, and 45:15, an afternoon of focused writing. Its KidsRead programming also gives NYC students the unique experience of meeting authors they’ve read and loved in school. Under the leadership of executive director Noreen Tomassi, the organization’s mission to celebrate and support the art of fiction has expanded to include storytelling in all its forms, integrating music, theater, dance, film/TV, and visual arts in its public programming. With 2020 marking the beginning of its third century in existence, the nonprofit is excited to work with surrounding organizations to establish a welcoming, community-driven literary hub.

Questions?
Contact us at events@mas.org.

Are you a member of The Center for Fiction and need information about discounted pricing? Contact Carla Cain-Walther at carla@centerforfiction.org.

Supporters

In Partnership with
  • logo for The Center for Fiction