Drawing from their writing careers, which together span genres from playwriting, screenwriting, journalism, criticism, and fiction, the two will explore a wide range of questions focused on storytelling and the process of literary creation, as well as life in the theater seen from both the playwright and critic's perspective. They will also discuss the role of the writer in the face of recent challenges to the freedom to read in the United States, and the mounting threats to democracy and global free expression today. Akhtar is a playwright, novelist, and screenwriter, whose most recent novel Homeland Elegies was a Finalist for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal. Schwartz was the recipient of the National Book Critics Circle’s Nona Balakian Citation for Excellence in Reviewing for 2014.

This event will be livestreamed. ASL interpretation and live captioning will be provided.