Yiyun Li's ''remarkable'' (The Washington Post) debut fiction collection, A Thousand Years of Good Prayers, won the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award, the PEN/Hemingway Award, and the Guardian First Book Award. Her other work includes the novel The Vagrants, the story collection Gold Boy, Emerald Girl, and the memoir Dear Friend, from My Life I Write to You in Your Life. The recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, and the Windham-Campbell Prize, Li teaches writing at Princeton University and is a contributing editor for A Public Space. A story of obsession and friendship, her new novel follows a woman's mental journey back to the war-ravaged French village of her youth.

Acclaimed for their ''moments of joy and pure magic'' (Los Angeles Times), Elizabeth McCracken's seven books include Bowlaway, The Giant's House, Thunderstruck & Other Stories, and The Souvenir Museum, a story collection that was longlisted for the National Book Award. A former faculty member at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and currently the James Michener Chair for Fiction at the University of Texas at Austin, McCracken has earned the PEN New England Award, three Pushcart Prizes, and an O. Henry Prize, among other honors. Her latest novel finds a woman wrestling with grief, history, and her craft as she takes a trip to her recently departed mother's favorite city. (recorded 10/6/2022)