Patricia Lockwood is a poet, memoirist, and novelist, best known for her characteristic blend of internet-age humor and profound emotional depth. Her breakout memoir, Priestdaddy, swings playfully between the sacred and the profane in its depiction of Lockwood’s upbringing in a conservative Catholic household. Lockwood’s poetry pushes the boundaries of both content and form, showcasing her knack for capturing the zeitgeist of the digital age. Her novel No One Is Talking About This combines the ephemerality of social media with eternal themes like family, grief, and caretaking, and deftly manages literary form to achieve distinctive moods and emotional effects. Across her work, Lockwood writes with a sharp and refreshing voice, and proves herself adept at examining the absurdities of our time with wit, warmth, and a penetrating eye.

This event will be followed by a cocktail reception with light refreshments. 

About the speaker: 

Patricia Lockwood is the author of four books, including the 2021 novel “No One Is Talking About This,” an international bestseller, winner of the Dylan Thomas Prize, finalist for the Booker Prize, and translated into 30 languages. Her 2017 memoir “Priestdaddy” won the Thurber Prize for American Humor and was named one of the Guardian’s 100 best books of the 21st century. She also has two poetry collections, “Motherland Fatherland Homelandsexuals” (2014) and “Balloon Pop Outlaw Black” (2012). Lockwood’s work has appeared in the New York Times, the New Yorker, and the London Review of Books, where she is a contributing editor. She lives in Savannah, Georgia.

Reverberations: 

In March, the Library is delighted to be hosting Reverberations: Literature Out Loud, a festival spotlighting innovations in the arts. In a series of concerts, conversations, and workshops, artists and authors are coming together to celebrate the history of storytelling and sound. Learn more about the festival and discover other events.

Reverberations is organized in partnership with the Opéra Comique and with the generous support of Festival Napa Valley, the American Center for Arts and Culture, and the Florence Gould Foundation.

Important information: The discussion will be available both online and in person. While the conversation will happen in person (the speakers will appear in the Reading Room), the Library will stream the conversation on Zoom for a live viewing experience. Both in-person and online attendees will be able to pose questions.

Please note, clocks moved forward in the US on 10 March, but do not move forward in France until 31 March: If you are attending a virtual or hybrid program from a US time zone, the time difference will be one hour less between 10 March and 31 March, and will return to normal on 31 March.

Attendance at this event constitutes permission for your photograph or video to be taken at the event and used by the American Library in Paris for marketing, promotional, pedagogical, or other purposes.