Laura Lippman is a New York Times bestselling novelist who has won more than 20 awards for her fiction—and been nominated for 30 more. Since her debut in 1997, she has published 20 novels, a novella and a collection of short stories. Lit Hub recently named her one of the “essential” female crime writers of the last 100 years. She also has written for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post and T magazine. Her novel Every Secret Thing, optioned for film by Academy Award-winning actress Frances McDormand, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in April 2014, starring Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks, and Dakota Fanning. Laura lives in Baltimore with her husband, David Simon, and their daughter.  Her new novel, Sunburn, will be published in February 2018. On December 5th, she will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Caught in the Act alongside James Forman Jr, David Friend, and JT Rogers  (tickets). We spoke to Laura ahead of the show…   Name:  Laura Lippman Describe your current project: Sunburn. Postman Always Rings Twice crossed with Ladder of Years What is your earliest memory involving reading or writing? Trying to write a book at age 5  What is your favorite line from your current […]

J.T. Rogers is a playwright whose plays include  (Lincoln Center Theater, then Broadway; National Theatre, London, then West End); Blood and Gifts (Lincoln Center Theater; National Theatre); The Overwhelming (National Theatre, then UK tour with Out of Joint; Roundabout Theatre); White People (Off-Broadwaywith Starry Night Productions); and Madagascar (Theatre 503, London; Melbourne Theatre Company). For Oslo he won the Tony, New York Critics, Outer Critics, Drama Desk, Drama League, Lortel, and Obie awards. As one of the playwrights for the Tricycle Theatre of London’s The Great Game: Afghanistan he was nominated for an Olivier Award. He is a Guggenheim fellow and has received three NYFA fellowships in playwriting. Rogers is a member of the Dramatist Guild, where he is a founding board member of the Dramatists Legal Defense Fund. On December 5th, he will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Caught in the Act alongside James Forman Jr, David Friend, and Laura Lippman  (tickets). We spoke to JT ahead of the show   Current projects: I’m writing the screenplay of my play OSLO, creating a series for Netflix, and digging into a new play. What is your earliest memory involving reading or writing?: Pouring over “Dick and Jane” books in preschool, staying in at recess so […]

Lev Grossman is the author of Warp, Codex, and The Magicians series, the first of which was one The New Yorker‘s best books of the year. The Magicians books have now been published in twenty-five countries. Grossman was both the lead technology writer and the book critic for Time magazine for fifteen years, from 2002 through 2016, and The New York Times described him as “among this country’s smartest and reliable critics.” On November 1, he will be speaking at House of SpeakEasy’s Seriously Entertaining show, Fear Itself alongside David Kilcullen, Julie Scelfo, and Rachel Eliza Griffiths (tickets). We spoke to Lev ahead of the show… Name: Lev Grossman What is your earliest memory involving reading or writing? The first thing I can remember reading is the immortal Ant and Bee Go Shopping. I wanted so badly to taste the plums they put in those neat clear boxes. I still do. What is your favorite first line of a novel? Off the top of my head, I’ll give it to M.T. Anderson’s Feed: “We went to the moon to have fun, but the moon turned out to completely suck.” What are you reading right now? I’m re-reading Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies. Also Alan Moore’s Watchmen. If you […]