The Center for Fiction Presents Claire Messud on This Strange Eventful History with Jennifer Egan

The Center for Fiction welcomes Claire Messud, acclaimed author of The Emperor’s Children and The Burning Girl, to discuss her latest work This Strange Eventful History. Named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2024 by LitHub, Time, and Oprah Daily, the novel tells the story of the Cassars, a family of pied-noirs or Algerian-born French people. Messud’s sprawling, decades-long family saga follows the Cassars as they are displaced after World War II and Algerian Independence. Inspired by her own family history, This Strange Eventful History is a sweeping yet intimate portrait of sociopolitical and personal upheaval that showcases why “Messud is one of contemporary literature’s best” (Kirkus Reviews).

Joining Messud in conversation is Jennifer Egan, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad. Messud and Egan will have a rousing discussion on This Strange Eventful History and its exploration of family in a colonial society. After the conversation, Messud will sign books.