From her starring roles on screen to her celebrated literary work as an essayist and translator from French, Molly Ringwald has built a career defined by reinvention and creative curiosity. Join us for a wide-ranging conversation with Ringwald, the American Library’s Fall 2025 Cultural Fellow, tracing her path across film, fiction, and French literature.
In conversation with author and staff writer for the New Yorker Lauren Collins.
About the Fall 2025 Cultural Fellow:
Molly Ringwald is an actress, author, and translator. She is the author of two bestselling books, Getting the Pretty Back and When It Happens to You, and the translator of the award-winning, internationally bestselling novels Lie With Me by Philippe Besson and My Cousin Maria Schneider by Vanessa Schneider. Her essays have appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, Vogue, Marie Claire, and the Guardian.
Her extensive film work includes Paul Mazursky’s Tempest; the iconic John Hughes films Sixteen Candles, Pretty in Pink, and The Breakfast Club; the independent drama All These Small Moments; and Netflix’s The Kissing Booth. On stage, Ringwald has starred in numerous Broadway productions, including Cabaret, Enchanted April, and Sweet Charity. Her television credits include the acclaimed series Riverdale, Dahmer – Monster: The Jeffrey Dahmer Story, and Feud: Capote vs. the Swans.
About our Moderator:
Lauren Collins is a staff writer for The New Yorker. Her subjects have included Michelle Obama, Emmanuel Macron, Demna, the street artist Invader, French tacos, the refugee crisis, and equal pay. Since 2015 she has been based in Paris, covering stories mainly from France. She is the author of When in French: Love in a Second Language, which the Times named as one of its 100 Notable Books of 2016. Her second book, “They Stole a City: Wilmington’s White Supremacist Coup and the Families Who Live With Its Legacy,” will be published on July 7, 2026.
