Agent/Editor and Authors – featuring Barbara Jones, Lillian Li, and Adelle Waldman

Reading: Thursday, November 10, 7:30 pm, Green Drawing Room, Main Building
Q & A: Friday, November 11, 11 am, Janney Lounge, Moody Center

Barbara Jones is a literary agent with Stuart Krichevsky Literary Agency, a leading, independent New York literary agency representing a distinguished list of bestselling and award-winning authors. Jones represents authors behind a range of fiction and nonfiction, from highly literary works to much more commercial fare, with an emphasis across all forms on voices from previously underrepresented communities and on durable talents and stories. Previously, she spent several decades as an editor, first in magazines (Grand Street, Harper’s, Vogue, Real Simple) and then in books (as editorial director at Hyperion Books and, most recently, as executive editor at Henry Holt). She has also led writing workshops for 30 years, at Yale University, New York University, Queens University of Charlotte, and elsewhere.

Lillian Li is the author of the novel Number One Chinese Restaurant (Henry Holt and Company, 2018), which was an NPR Best Book of 2018, and longlisted for the Women’s Prize and the Center for Fiction’s First Novel Prize. The Village Voice called it “A wonderfully honest portrait of what it takes to make it in America,” while The Guardian praised the book as “an insightful and elegant novel, beautifully written and with an impressively large and diverse cast of characters.” Her work has been published in the New York Times, Granta, One Story, Bon Appetit, Travel & Leisure, The Guardian, and Jezebel. She is the recipient of a Hopwood Award in Short Fiction, as well as Glimmer Train’s New Writer Award.

Adelle Waldman’s writing has appeared in The New York Times Book Review, The Wall Street Journal, Slate, The Village Voice, and other publications. Her first novel, The Love Affairs of Nathaniel P. (Henry Holt and Company, 2013), has been called one of 2013’s best books by The New Yorker, The New Republic, Slate, The Economist, NPR, Fresh Air, The National Journal, Bookforum, The National Post, BookPage, The Guardian, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Baltimore City Paper, and The Irish Times. It was also named a New York Times’ Editor’s Choice and a Washington Post Notable Book. The Economist calls Nathaniel P. “Incisive and very funny... This is an impressive book, full of sharp and amusing observations about urban life, liberal pieties, and modern dating.”

Sponsored by the department of English and creative writing and the Dee Hull Everist Visiting Speaker Fund.

COVID-19 Culture of Care guidelines at Hollins University:

Guests must provide proof of full vaccination (one or two doses, depending on which vaccine was administered, and at least one booster).
Masking is required at events where more than 50 people are gathered.