About American Writers’ Week: Katie Kitamura
Katie Kitamura is a master of, mystery, psychological depth and intimate relationship dynamics in her taut, intriguing writing.
Her most recent novel Audition was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, short listed for the 2025 Booker Prize and selected by Barack Obama as one of his favourite books of the year. A hypnotic and exhilarating journey of intrigue, it follows an actress – successful, married and settled in her life, whose world is upended when a young man approaches her and tells that he believes he is her son. From that point, two narratives unfurl – two versions of events, and two distinct realities. She interrogates the roles we play – as parent, partner, creator, muse – and the truths every performance masks, especially from those who think they know us most intimately.
Katie Kitamura’s previous novels include the multi-award nominated Intimacies and A Separation.
Part of the British Library’s American Writers’ Week (28 September to 2 November), presented in association with Festival America, Vincennes, France. Participating writers include Alison Bechdel, Armistead Maupin, Daniel Kraus, Jeanine Cummins, Joyce Carol Oates, Katie Kitamura and Rabih Alameddine and Viet Thanh Nguyen.
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Katie Kitamura
Katie Kitamura is the author of five novels.
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Audition was shortlisted for the 2025 Booker Prize, longlisted for the Women’s Prize a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction and one of Barack Obama’s favourite books of the year. Intimacies was named one of the 10 Best Books of 2021 by the New York Times. It was also one of Barack Obama’s favourite books of the year and was longlisted for a National Book Award and a PEN/Faulkner Award and was a finalist for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize. A Separation was a New York Times Notable Book. Her work has been translated into more than twenty languages and is being adapted for film and television. A recipient of the Rome Prize in Literature, a Guggenheim Fellowship and other honours, she teaches in the creative writing programme at New York University.
Venue and bar opening times
This event will take place in the British Library Knowledge Centre and is also available to watch online. Tickets may be booked to attend in person, or to watch online.
If you are attending in person, please note that the Knowledge Centre and the bar will be open in advance of your event.
Please arrive no later than 15 minutes before the start time of this event. If you have specific access requirements please email customer@bl.uk
Attending the event online
If you book an online ticket, you will receive the viewing link on the morning of the event. You can either watch the event live or during the next 14 days on catch up.
Concessions
There are a range of concessions available. These include discounts for British Library Members, Young Persons (16 – 25s), and visitors on Universal/Pension Credit and free entry for carers.
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