Get Lit November Book Club: Susan Choi with musical guest Sarah Kinsley

Join WNYC's Alison Stewart and Susan Choi for a live conversation about her newest book, Flashlight, followed by a special musical performance from Sarah Kinsley.

The New York Public Library and WNYC—two indispensable New York institutions—are partnering to host a book club that brings New Yorkers together and fosters community.

The November title is Susan Choi's Flashlight, a novel tracing a father’s disappearance across time, nations, and memory.

One summer night, Louisa and her father take a walk on the breakwater. Her father is carrying a flashlight. He cannot swim. Later, Louisa is found on the beach, soaked to the skin, barely alive. Her father is gone. She is ten years old.

Louisa is an only child of parents who have severed themselves from the past. Her father, Serk, is Korean, but was born and raised in Japan; he lost touch with his family when they bought into the promises of postwar Pyongyang and relocated to North Korea. Her American mother, Anne, is estranged from her Midwestern family after a reckless adventure in her youth. And then there is Tobias, Anne’s illegitimate son, whose reappearance in their lives will have astonishing consequences.

But now it is just Anne and Louisa, Louisa and Anne, adrift and facing the challenges of ordinary life in the wake of great loss. United, separated, and also repelled by their mutual grief, they attempt to move on. But they cannot escape the echoes of that night. What really happened to Louisa’s father?

Throughout the month, All of It host Alison Stewart and the Library will accompany readers, providing touchpoints on-air and on social media at @allofitwnyc and @nypl. Borrow the book (and more than 300,000 others) for free through the Library on your preferred device. Learn more: nypl.org/ebookhelp

Join Stewart, the author, and readers everywhere for a live conversation, in-person or online, on Thursday, December 4 at 6 PM. The conversation will be followed by a special musical performance from Sarah Kinsley.

To join in person | Please be sure to register for an In-Person Ticket. Doors will open 30 minutes before the program. For free events, we generally overbook to ensure a full house. Priority will be given to those who have registered in advance, but registration does not guarantee admission. All registered seats are released shortly before start time, and seats may become available at that time. A standby line will form 30 minutes before the program.

To join the livestream | A livestream of this event will be available on the NYPL event page. To receive an email reminder shortly in advance of the event, please be sure to register!

ACCESSIBILITY

In-Person | Assistive listening devices and/or hearing loops are available at the venue. You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation or CART (Communication Access Real-Time Translation) captioning service by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template. This venue is fully accessible to wheelchairs.

Livestream | Captions and a transcript will be provided. You can request a free ASL (American Sign Language) interpretation by emailing your request at least two weeks in advance of the event: email accessibility@nypl.org or use this Gmail template.

GET THE BOOK

• Borrow: NYPL Catalog


• E-Books: Check out this title—and even more NYPL e-books—on your favorite device. Learn more: nypl.org/ebookhelp

Don't have a New York Public Library card? Get one here!

To see all of our previous WNYC Get Lit titles check out our book club page here!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Susan Choi is a recipient of the Asian-American Literary Award for fiction, the PEN/W. G. Sebald Award, a Lambda Literary award, the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award, and fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Guggenheim Foundation. Her latest novel Flashlight, is currently long-listed for the Booker Prize and her previous title, Trust Exercise, the National Book Award for fiction. She teaches in the Writing Seminars at Johns Hopkins University and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

ABOUT THE PERFORMER

Sarah Kinsley is a singer-songwriter from Mountain View, California who has shared the stage with Mitski, Weyes Blood, and Sylvan Esso to name a few. Throughout her childhood, she performed classical music in youth orchestras and eventually studied music theory at Columbia University, where she began to produce her own music inspired by Chopin, Clara Schumann, Beethoven, Debussy and Ravel as well as Lorde, Fleetwood Mac, ABBA, Sting, the Eagles, Foreigner and Madonna. After her song "The King" had success on TikTok in 2021, she released an extended play (EP) of the same name, which was listed on NME's top debut projects of 2021. Kinsley followed up the project with subsequent EPs, Cypress (2022) and Ascension (2023). In 2024, she released her debut album Escaper which Brooklyn Vegan called a “sparkling alt-pop, lush with orchestral flourishes and dramatic energy”.

Please submit all press inquiries at least 48 hours before the event by emailing press@nypl.org or by using this Gmail template.

For all other questions and inquiries, please email adultprogramming@nypl.org or use this Gmail template.

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