Join us for an intimate evening with Sigrid Nunez, acclaimed author of The Friend, as we celebrate her latest novel, The Vulnerables. This evening is generously hosted by Denise Simon and moderated by author and PEN America Trustee Dinaw Mengestu. Books will be available for all attendees.
NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR, HARPER’S BAZAAR, VOGUE, THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, THE IRISH TIMES, NEW REPUBLIC AND KIRKUS REVIEWS
The New York Times–bestselling, National Book Award–winning author of The Friend and What Are You Going Through brings her singular voice to a story about modern life and connection
Elegy plus comedy is the only way to express how we live in the world today, says a character in Sigrid Nunez’s ninth novel. The Vulnerables offers a meditation on our contemporary era, as a solitary female narrator asks what it means to be alive at this complex moment in history and considers how our present reality affects the way a person looks back on her past.
Humor, to be sure, is a priceless refuge. Equally vital is connection with others, who here include an adrift member of Gen Z and a spirited parrot named Eureka. The Vulnerables reveals what happens when strangers are willing to open their hearts to each other and how far even small acts of caring can go to ease another’s distress. A search for understanding about some of the most critical matters of our time, Nunez’s new novel is also an inquiry into the nature and purpose of writing itself.
About Sigrid Nunez
Sigrid Nunez has published nine novels, including A Feather on the Breath of God, The Last of Her Kind, The Friend, What Are You Going Through, and, most recently, The Vulnerables. She is also the author of Sempre Susan: A Memoir of Susan Sontag. Her first collection of short fiction, It Will Come Back to You, will be published in August, 2026. The Friend, a New York Times best seller, won the 2018 National Book Award and was a finalist for the 2020 International Dublin Literary Award. Nunez’s other honors include a Whiting Award, a Berlin Prize Fellowship, the Rome Prize in Literature, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a Windham-Campbell Literature Prize. The Friend was adapted for film by the directors David Siegel and Scott McGehee. What Are You Going Through was adapted for film by the director Pedro Almodóvar, under the title The Room Next Door. Nunez is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her work has been translated into thirty-five languages.
Please contact Renee Lamarque at [email protected] if you’re interested in attending this special evening. Donations to attend this evening are $350. Following your RSVP, you will be sent the address for the dinner. The donation is considered 100% tax-deductible and supports PEN America’s mission to defend writers and free expression at a time of unprecedented need. Your generosity is deeply appreciated.
About PEN America Authors’ Evenings
The PEN America Authors’ Evenings are nights of literary dinners in private homes and intimate settings. Please visit the Authors’ Evenings webpage for our full calendar of dinners.
Proceeds from the PEN America Authors’ Evenings support PEN America’s programming to secure the liberty of persecuted and imprisoned writers around the world, to defend freedom of expression, and to promote literature and international cultural exchange.