In-Person Fully Registered: Writing Life Panel, Co-Sponsored with the Authors Guild: Adapting Books to Film

Event Category
Lecture/Panel
Event Type
Open to the Public
Event Location
Members' Room and Online
Event Price
free of charge
Register for event
Register for virtual event
Vintage video camera for May 2025 Authors Guild books to film adaptation panel

This Members' Room event is fully registered. You're welcome to join the waitlist, and we will contact you if space becomes available for the in-person event. Livestream space is also available.

 

Authors Alix Strauss and Meg Wolitzer, producer Carol Fenelon, and literary agent Vicky Bijur share their experience bringing the written word to the screen, in conversation with author and educator Nancy Newman. Learn how books are chosen and optioned and what follows after a contract is signed. Hear practical advice from those who have succeeded. The event's co-creator, Authors Guild Ambassador and Library member Diana Altman, will introduce. 

Headshot of Alix Strauss

Alix Strauss is a trend, culture and lifestyle journalist; an award-winning, four-time published author; speaker; and frequent contributor to The New York Times. Her books include The Joy of Funerals, Based Upon Availability, and Death Becomes Them: Unearthing the Suicides of the Brilliant, the Famous and the Notorious. Her work has been optioned for several TV and film projects. alixstrauss.com

Headshot of Meg Wolitzer

Meg Wolitzer is the New York Times bestselling author of, among other books, This Is My Life, The Wife, The Ten-Year Nap, The Interestings, and The Female Persuasion. The film version of This Is My Life marked the 1992 directorial debut of Nora Ephron, and The Wife was adapted into a 2017 film starring Glenn Close and Jonathan Pryce.  Wolitzer is the host of the literary radio show and podcast Selected Shorts. megwolitzer.com

Headshot of Carol Fenelon

Carol Fenelon is the former producing partner of the late Academy Award winning filmmaker Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential). She worked with Hanson as a film producer and music supervisor on numerous adaptations from book to screen, including Wonder Boys (based on the novel by Michael Chabon), In Her Shoes (based on the novel by Jennifer Weiner), The Big Year (based on Mark Obmascik's nonfiction account of an annual birdwatching competition) and Too Big to Fail (Andrew Ross Sorkin's nonfiction account of the 2008 financial crisis). Her other film producer credits include 8 Mile, Lucky You, and the documentary Skid Row Marathon. 

Headshot of Vicky Bijur

Vicky Bijur started the Vicky Bijur Literary Agency in 1988. Many of the books she represents have been on the NY Times bestseller list and have been NY Times Notable Books of the Year, and several have been turned into feature films, including Still Alice with Julianne Moore; Drive with Ryan Gosling and Carey Mulligan; The Man Who Knew Infinity with Dev Patel and Jeremy Irons; and the miniseries Lady in the Lake with Natalie Portman and Moses Ingram. vickybijuragency.com

Interested, but not yet ready to register? Get a reminder closer to the date, space permitting.

This event is co-sponsored by the Library and the Authors Guild.

The Writing Life events in 2025 are generously underwritten by Jenny Lawrence.