Get Lit September Book Club: Michael Chabon & Gene Scheer with musical guests The Metropolitan Opera

Join WNYC’s Alison Stewart, author Michael Chabon and librettist Gene Scheer for a live conversation celebrating the 25th anniversary of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, followed by a special musical performance from The Metropolitan Opera.

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 September title is Michael Chabon's Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, an epic tale of two boy geniuses dreaming up superheroes in New York’s Golden Age of comics.

A young escape artist and budding magician named Joe Kavalier arrives on the doorstep of his cousin, Sammy Clay. While the long shadow of Hitler falls across Europe, America is happily in thrall to the Golden Age of comic books, and in a distant corner of Brooklyn, Sammy is looking for a way to cash in on the craze.

He finds the ideal partner in the aloof, artistically gifted Joe, and together they embark on an adventure that takes them deep into the heart of Manhattan, and the heart of old-fashioned American ambition. From the shared fears, dreams, and desires of two teenage boys, they spin comic book tales of the heroic, fascist-fighting Escapist and the beautiful, mysterious Luna Moth, otherworldly mistress of the night. Climbing from the streets of Brooklyn to the top of the Empire State Building, Joe and Sammy carve out lives, and careers, as vivid as cyan and magenta ink.

Spanning continents and eras, this superb book by one of America’s finest writers remains one of the defining novels of our modern American age.

In celebration of the novel's 25th anniversary, this exhilarating tale has been transformed into a contemporary opera created by composer Mason Bates and librettist Gene Scheer, on stage at the Met beginning September 21. Please join us at SNFL on September 24 to hear from Chabon and Scheer with special musical performances from the cast.

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 Wednesday, September 24 at 6 PM. The conversation will be followed by a special musical performance from The Metropolitan Opera.

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

Michael Chabon is a Pulizter Prize winning novelist, screenwriter, columnist, and short story writer originally from Washington, D.C. His first novel, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, became a New York Times bestseller and his second novel, Wonder Boys, also a bestseller, and was made into a critically-acclaimed film. His third novel, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, was selected by the American Library Association as one of the Notable Books of 2000 and won the New York Society Library Prize for Fiction, the Bay Area Book Reviewers Award, the Commonwealth Club Gold Medal, and the Pulitzer Prize. In 2020 the New York Public Library voted The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay one of the 125 most important books of the last 125 years.  An opera of The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay with music by Mason Bates and a libretto by Gene Scheer was co-commissioned by the Metropolitan Opera with the Philadelphia Orchestra and will premiere at the Met in September 2025.

ABOUT THE LIBRETTIST

Gene Scheer is an American songwriter, librettist and lyricist whose work is noted for its scope and versatility. His acclaimed work with composer Jake Heggie includes the 2010 Dallas Opera world premiere of Moby-Dick, Three Decembers (Houston Grand Opera), and the lyric drama To Hell and Back (Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra). Other collaborations include the lyrics for Wynton Marsalis’s It Never Goes Away, featured in Mr. Marsalis’s work Congo Square. Mr. Scheer wrote the oratorio August 4, 1964, for the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and was nominated for a Grammy in 2012 for best classical composition and Scheer was nominated again in 2015 for his work on Cold Mountain. He has also written songs for Renée Fleming, Sylvia McNair, Stephanie Blythe, Jennifer Larmore, Denyce Graves, and Nathan Gunn. Mr. Scheer’s song “American Anthem” (as sung by Norah Jones) was featured in Ken Burns' Emmy Award-winning World War II documentary The War.

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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