Upcoming Author Events & Readings
55 upcoming author events and readings from Harvard Book Store, with dates, venues and ticket links taken from the organization’s own pages and refreshed weekly. All readings in Greater Boston →
Tue Oct 6 · 6:00pm
Theaster Gates and Henry Louis Gates Jr. discuss Theaster Gates's new book. Theaster Gates is an artist who buys derelict buildings on Chicago's South Side and turns them into archives; Henry Louis Gates Jr. directs the Hutchins Center at Harvard.
Tue Oct 6 · 7:00pm
Nghi Vo discusses her new novel The Scarlet Ball, "this all-consuming tale of ballrooms and bloodshed" that "weds The Gilded Age with the Gothic vision of Guillermo del Toro." Vo also wrote The Chosen and the Beautiful and Siren Queen. Cassandra Khaw, a Bram Stoker winner, joins her.
Wed Oct 7 · 6:00pm
Daniel E. Lieberman discusses Fed Up: What Evolution Reveals About Food, Diet, Health, and Eating Well. Lieberman is a Harvard paleoanthropologist and the author of Exercised, and his subject is the mismatch between the bodies we evolved and the lives we lead. In Hall D, free with an RSVP.
Wed Oct 7 · 7:00pm
Nathaniel Philbrick discusses The Rush: California Gold, the Civil War, and the Making of the Modern World, tying the Gold Rush to the war that followed. Philbrick won the National Book Award for In the Heart of the Sea and was a Pulitzer finalist. Ilyon Woo, who won the Pulitzer for Master Slave Husband Wife, joins him.
Ticketed
Thu Oct 8 · 7:00pm
Kevin Galvin discusses Troubled Times: The Boston Courthouse Bombing of 1976, which "interweaves the stories of a revolutionary and a bombing victim to explore the roots and unintended consequences of political violence." Galvin was deputy national editor of the Boston Globe. Mitchell Zuckoff of Boston University joins him.
Thu Oct 8 · 7:00pm
Melissa King discusses The Girl Who Became King, "an intimate, captivating memoir about family" from the James Beard Award-winning chef. King also wrote the cookbook Cook Like a King: Recipes from My California Chinese Kitchen. Karen Akunowicz, chef-owner of Fox & the Knife in South Boston, joins her.
Ticketed
Fri Oct 9 · 7:00pm
Simon Critchley discusses Heidegger Thinking: 'Being and Time' Explained, "an intelligent but approachable guide to the main concepts of Heidegger's magnum opus." Critchley is Hans Jonas Professor of Philosophy at the New School. Sean Kelly, Harvard's dean of arts and humanities, joins him.
Tue Oct 13 · 6:00pm
Anand Giridharadas discusses Man in the Mirror, which turns on the 2023 collision of two lives — Jordan Neely, "a homeless man known in better days for his Michael Jackson impersonations," and Daniel Penny, "an ex-Marine who had moved to the big city." Giridharadas wrote Winners Take All. Junot Díaz joins him.
Ticketed
Tue Oct 13 · 7:00pm
Aruni Kashyap discusses his new novel How to Date a Fanatic, "set in contemporary India," in which "a young professor searches for connection and love during a time of political and cultural upheaval." Kashyap directs the creative writing programme at the University of Georgia and translates from Assamese. Neel Mukherjee joins him.
Wed Oct 14 · 6:00pm
Ayad Akhtar discusses his new novel The Radiance, in which "a mysterious accident along a country road sparks an awakening and an investigation." Akhtar won the Pulitzer for his play Disgraced and wrote Homeland Elegies. Indira Lakshmanan of WBUR's Here & Now joins him at the Brattle.
Ticketed
Wed Oct 14 · 7:00pm
Cal Hoffman discusses his new novel Judah Can't Tell, which opens "on the morning a powerful US senator is accused of a long-buried sexual scandal" and follows his son Harris, "a journalist, husband, and father." Hoffman also wrote Easy to Slip. Joanna Rakoff, author of My Salinger Year, joins him.
Thu Oct 15 · 6:00pm
Sharon Weinberger discusses Valley of Death: How Big Tech Is Fueling the Future of War, which "reveals how a new military-industrial complex is arising from the cradle of Silicon Valley, with vast implications for American democracy." Weinberger was national security editor at the Wall Street Journal until 2026.
Thu Oct 15 · 7:00pm
Ellen Warner discusses The Other Half: Forty Men Reveal Life After Fifty, "an insightful and intimate look at aging and masculinity" drawn from interviews and portraits "from a taxi driver to a prince, a fishmonger to a professional boxer." Warner's previous book, The Second Half, did the same for women.
Fri Oct 16 · 7:00pm
Liza Black discusses How Settlers Get Away with Murder, "a forensic history of the missing and murdered Indigenous women and Two-Spirit people crisis that unmasks the Americas' oldest and most relentless crime." Black teaches Native American and Indigenous studies at Indiana. Co-presented with the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights.
Mon Oct 19 · 6:00pm
Kerry Kennedy discusses Ethel Kennedy: The Extraordinary Life and Bold Legacy, "a vivid, intimate biography of an American icon by her daughter, told through her firsthand memories and exclusive access to Ethel's personal papers." Kennedy is a human rights lawyer. Mark Gearan joins her at the Brattle.
Ticketed
Mon Oct 19 · 7:00pm
Julie Orringer discusses her new novel Luna, Phoenix, Queen, "a novel about varieties of infidelity, the provenance of a literary masterpiece, and the power of storytelling to shape identity and destiny." Orringer wrote The Invisible Bridge and The Flight Portfolio. Jayne Anne Phillips, a Pulitzer winner, joins her.
Tue Oct 20 · 6:00pm
Dino Martins discusses Hidden Creatures, a welcome to "the hidden, squirming world of parasites — some of the most misunderstood creatures with whom we share the Earth (and our bodies)," the tapeworm among them. Martins is a Kenyan entomologist who teaches at Stony Brook. Free with an RSVP.
Tue Oct 20 · 7:00pm
Dariush Mozaffarian discusses his first book Food Is Medicine, "an urgent exposé of how the food we eat is making us sick, how we can heal, and the revolutionary new food system that can mend our health, economy, and planet." Mozaffarian is a cardiologist who directs the Food is Medicine Institute at Tufts.
Wed Oct 21 · 6:00pm
Fuchsia Dunlop discusses her new cookbook Five Tastes, "a master class on harnessing the magic of traditional Chinese flavoring techniques to bring joy into everyday home cooking." Dunlop trained at the Sichuan Institute of Higher Cuisine and won a James Beard award for The Food of Sichuan. Free with an RSVP.
Wed Oct 21 · 6:00pm
Natasha Singer discusses Coding Kids: Big Tech's Battle to Remake Public Schools. Singer has covered the tech industry's influence in schools for the New York Times for more than a decade and was a Pulitzer finalist for national reporting. Cathy O'Neil, author of Weapons of Math Destruction, joins her.
Wed Oct 21 · 7:00pm
Marcia Chatelain discusses How Bright the Path Grows, "the little-known story of the pioneering Black women artists and activists who were seen, but barely heard, at the 1963 March on Washington." Chatelain won the Pulitzer for Franchise and teaches Africana studies at Penn. Christian Hosam of Wellesley joins her.
Thu Oct 22 · 7:00pm
Akbar Shahid Ahmed discusses Crossing the Red Line: Biden, His Advisors, and Israel's War in Gaza, "a powerful and authoritative account of how the Biden administration fueled atrocities in Gaza." Ahmed is diplomatic correspondent at NOTUS and covered the State Department throughout the war.
Fri Oct 23 · 7:00pm
Jim Emison discusses Murder on the Hatchie, which "uncovers the 1940 lynching of NAACP leader Elbert Williams — America's first martyr for Black voting rights — and the federal failures that followed." Emison is a retired Tennessee trial lawyer who got the case reopened. Cornell William Brooks joins him.
Fri Oct 23 · 7:00pm
Neal Stephenson discusses D: Heavy Water, "the second installment in his monumental Bomb Light series — a gripping tale set on the eve of World War II, as nations race" for an elusive substance. Stephenson wrote Snow Crash, Cryptonomicon and Polostan.
Ticketed
Sat Oct 24 · 7:00pm
Bonnie Garmus discusses her new novel Peck & Peck, "an irresistible, delightful, and tender literary novel set in the publishing world of 1980s New York City." Garmus wrote Lessons in Chemistry, which won sixteen international awards and became an Apple TV series.
Ticketed
Mon Oct 26 · 6:00pm
Emily St. John Mandel discusses her new novel Exit Party. Mandel has written six novels, among them Station Eleven, The Glass Hotel and Sea of Tranquility. Allegra Goodman joins her. Note the venue: moved from the Brattle Theatre to First Parish Church to accommodate more ticket holders.
Ticketed
Mon Oct 26 · 7:00pm
Thomas Frank discusses The Creativity Con, "a bold indictment of America's chronic obsession with creativity and innovation, tracing how these beloved ideas came to dominate our political and economic conversation while serving to mask inequality." Frank founded The Baffler and wrote What's the Matter with Kansas?
Tue Oct 27 · 6:00pm
Four contributors to The Practice of Wisdom, a collection on what wisdom might mean across different fields, discuss the book: Davíd Carrasco, a Harvard historian of religion in Latin America; the medical anthropologist and psychiatrist Arthur Kleinman; Stephanie Paulsell, who teaches Christian studies at Harvard Divinity School; and Michael Puett, who teaches Chinese history and anthropology at Harvard. The event is free with an RSVP.
Tue Oct 27 · 7:00pm
Taylor Grothe discusses their adult debut Lethal Kiss, "a blood-soaked love story of rage, revenge, and belonging" and "a sapphic horror/romance that's as grotesque as it is beautiful." Grothe writes horror and dark fantasy and studies medieval literature and Norse saga. Christa Carmen joins them.
Wed Oct 28 · 7:00pm
Wendy S. Walters discusses A Dead White: An Argument Against White Paint, "an impassioned, boundary-pushing work of criticism traversing fine arts, design and architecture, taking aim at the ubiquity of white paint in our society." Walters teaches nonfiction at Columbia and wrote Multiply/Divide.
Thu Oct 29 · 7:00pm
Raj Panjabi discusses Safer: A Playbook — Turning Fear into Action and Crisis into Community, "the essential guide for navigating crisis and uncertainty from the acclaimed physician who led the White House response to the world's most dangerous health emergencies." Panjabi fled Liberia's civil war as a child and founded Last Mile Health.
Fri Oct 30 · 7:00pm
Edward Steed discusses Happy Hour: A Book of Drawings, in which "a generational talent's old cartooning soul returns for a second round." Steed draws for the New Yorker and has a Grammy for a Father John Misty album cover. Ruth Lichtman, an Emmy-nominated director, joins him.
Mon Nov 2 · 7:00pm
Deni Elliott discusses Catching Sight: How a Guide Dog Helped Me See Myself, "one woman's journey through progressive blindness and the extraordinary guide dog who kept her safe along the way." Elliott is an ethics scholar, co-director of the National Ethics Project and professor emerita at the University of South Florida.
Wed Nov 4 · 6:00pm
Jacob Weisberg discusses Profiles in Cowardice: A Study of Collaboration in the Trump Era, whose title inverts John F. Kennedy's Profiles in Courage. Weisberg chairs the Committee to Protect Journalists, was for many years editor of Slate, and co-founded the podcast company Pushkin Industries with Malcolm Gladwell; his earlier books include The Bush Tragedy. The Cambridge Public Library co-presents, and a signing follows.
Wed Nov 4 · 6:00pm
Joanne Chang discusses The Joy of Cookies: New Classics and Old Favorites to Share, "a warm, stunning, celebratory baking book of favorite cookies, classic and new." Chang has a James Beard award and founded Flour Bakery + Cafe and Myers + Chang in Boston. At the Brattle, ticketed.
Ticketed
Wed Nov 4 · 7:00pm
Christy Scott Cashman discusses her new novel What Happened in Beulah, in which "a teenage girl uncovers the dark secrets of her Smoky Mountain town while searching for a missing classmate." Cashman is a Boston-based author, actress and producer, and founded the youth arts nonprofit YouthINK.
Thu Nov 5 · 7:00pm
Stephen Kinzer discusses Boiling Point: How America Brought War to Ukraine, "the untold history of America's secret seventy-five-year struggle in Ukraine that set the stage for today's war." Kinzer reported from more than fifty countries for the New York Times and is a senior fellow at Brown's Watson Institute.
Fri Nov 6 · 7:00pm
Riley Black discusses Tyrant Lizard Queen, "an imaginative celebration of T. Rex from hatching to adulthood" — an animal "exceeding 40 feet in length and weighing over 9 tons." Black is science correspondent for Smithsonian and wrote The Last Days of the Dinosaurs.
Mon Nov 9 · 6:00pm
Francine Berman discusses Better Tech: Putting People First in Cyberspace. Berman founded and heads the Public Interest Technology Initiative at UMass Amherst and co-chairs the Berkman Klein Center working group on the subject. Free with an RSVP at the Harvard Science Center, co-presented with Harvard Library.
Mon Nov 9 · 7:00pm
Lloyd Schwartz reads from his new collection Artur Schnabel and Joseph Szigeti Play Mozart at the Frick Collection (April 4, 1948) and Other Poems. Schwartz won the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism, served as Poet Laureate of Somerville, and is professor emeritus of English at UMass Boston.
Tue Nov 10 · 6:00pm
Alice Hoffman discusses The Witches of Cambridge, "the brand-new series from the bestselling author of Practical Magic, following two brilliant young women in 1950s Cambridge, Massachusetts, as they become immersed in a mysterious secret group of witches at Radcliffe." Hoffman has written thirty works of fiction.
Tue Nov 10 · 7:00pm
David Weinberger discusses Beautiful Particulars, "a fresh and eye-opening new explanation of AI — and how its focus on specifics is changing our ideas about ourselves and our world." Weinberger researches at Harvard's metaLAB, is a long-time Berkman Klein affiliate and wrote Everyday Chaos.
Thu Nov 12 · 7:00pm
Dana Mashoian Walrath discusses The Book of Genocides, a graphic narrative in which "a descendant of genocide survivors brings history's darkest horrors to life, calling on us to remember, repair, and resist." Walrath is a medical anthropologist and artist whose earlier graphic memoir Aliceheimer's drew her mother's dementia.
Fri Nov 13 · 7:00pm
Charrise Barron discusses The Platinum Age of Gospel, "the story of gospel music's chartbusting mainstream success and the accompanying shifts in Black Christian theology," beginning with "the clandestine spirituals of the enslaved." Barron is a minister, a gospel artist and an assistant professor of music at Harvard.
Mon Nov 16 · 6:00pm
Melissa Clark discusses her new cookbook, The Big Book of Dinner: Recipes and Rules (and How to Break Them). Clark is a staff writer for the New York Times Food section, where she has long written the A Good Appetite column, and a winner of James Beard and IACP awards; her New York Times bestsellers include Dinner in One. Book-included tickets are available.
Mon Nov 16 · 6:00pm
Terence Tao discusses Six Math Essentials, in which "the 'Mozart of mathematics' invites readers on a brief tour of six core ideas — numbers, algebra, geometry, probability, analysis, and dynamics." Tao is a Fields medallist and professor of mathematics at UCLA. Free with an RSVP, in Hall D.
Mon Nov 16 · 7:00pm
Shaul Magid and Zev Mishell discuss Jewish Anti-Zionism: A Historical Anthology, "a collection of texts illustrating the complex reasons why Jews have contested or rejected the Zionist ideal over more than a century." Magid teaches modern Judaism at Harvard Divinity School; Mishell is a graduate student in the study of religion.
Tue Nov 17 · 6:00pm
James Gleick discusses The Telephone: A New History, "a sweeping history of the instrument that created modern life," beginning in 1876 with Bell saying "Mr. Watson—come here—I want to see you." Gleick wrote Chaos and The Information and was a finalist for the Pulitzer and the National Book Award.
Ticketed
Tue Nov 17 · 7:00pm
Janet Rich Edwards discusses her debut novel Canticle, a national bestseller longlisted for the 2026 Carol Shields Prize and a New York Times Editors' Choice, newly in paperback. Edwards is a professor of epidemiology at Harvard who works in women's health at Brigham and Women's Hospital.
Wed Nov 18 · 7:00pm
Omékongo Dibinga discusses Trigger Words, which "examines how language in the United States has been manipulated and politicized to sow division and dehumanization, rather than to encourage inclusion" — from "woke" to "DEI" to "CRT." Dibinga is a trilingual poet, rapper and professor of intercultural communication at American University.
Thu Nov 19 · 7:00pm
Rodrigo Nunes discusses Anatomy of Disintegration, which "dissects the global far right's appeal through the lens of Bolsonarismo, tracing its roots to the social disintegration caused by the crisis of neoliberalism and looming climate change." Nunes teaches philosophy at PUC-Rio in Brazil.
Fri Nov 20 · 7:00pm
Brian D. Goldstein discusses Max Bond: The Life and Work of the People's Architect, "the first biography of a preeminent postwar architect who championed the cause of freedom through architecture." J. Max Bond Jr. was also a civil rights activist and educator. Goldstein chairs art history at Swarthmore.
Mon Nov 23 · 7:00pm
Alice Miranda Ollstein, Politico's senior health care reporter, on Side Effects: How Abortion Bans Impact Everyone's Health — years of reporting on how losing abortion access has degraded care across the whole American health system, including services with nothing to do with pregnancy.
Mon Nov 30 · 7:00pm
Sandro Galea discusses his memoir Alien: Reflections on Being an Immigrant, "a personal treatise on the indelible effects of being an immigrant — and what it means for the greater good." Galea left Malta at fourteen and is now dean of the school of public health at Washington University in St. Louis.
Wed Dec 9 · 7:00pm
Diego Perez, the #1 New York Times bestselling author who writes as Yung Pueblo, presents Journey: The Year That Changes Everything — 365 daily reflections on self-awareness and inner peace. Harvard Book Store hosts at First Parish Church; tickets include a pre-signed hardcover.
Ticketed (includes a pre-signed hardcover)
