Rebecca Makkai The Great Believers: Where Fiction Meets History

This is the 3rd Annual John, Elizabeth and Alison Morris Memorial Event, sponsored by Greg Morris and the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire Foundation. Rebecca Makkai’s novel The Great Believers (a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer in fiction and the 2018 National Book Award) chronicles the AIDS epidemic in 1980s Chicago. In this talk, she will read from the book and discuss its origins, stemming from her own experience growing up in Chicago during the epidemic. Makkai will also delve into the dearth of research on how AIDS affected the Midwest and talk about her approach to gathering personal stories from those who were hit hardest. TICKETS: Tickets for this presentation are $10 including taxes/fees. >> Our book sales committee will have copies of The Great Believers available for purchase at this event. Please join us for an autographing session following the presentation. REBECCA MAKKAI is the Chicago-based author of the novel The Great Believers, a finalist for a 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Fiction and one of The New York Times’ top ten books for 2018. It was also the winner of the Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence from the American Library Association, the Stonewall Award, and the Chicago Review of Books Award, a finalist for the National Book Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, and a pick for the New York Public Library’s 2018 Best Books. Her other books are the novels The Borrower and The Hundred-Year House, and a short story collection, Music for Wartime. Rebecca is on the MFA faculties of Sierra Nevada College and Northwestern University, and she is Artistic Director of StoryStudio Chicago. rebeccamakkai.com