Join 2019 National Book Award Winner Susan Choi (Trust Exercise) and 2022 National Book Award Finalist Sarah Thankam Mathews (All This Could Be Different) for a conversation on the impact of contemporary bildungsroman and what it means to grow up in adult fiction. Choi and Mathews read from their novels and discuss how and why coming-of-age stories capture writers and readers alike.

Moderated by Ruth Dickey, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation.

Presented in partnership with the Association of Writers & Writing Programs.