Presented by Changing Hands Bookstore in partnership with Mesa Arts Center
SIGNED BOOK INCLUDED WITH TICKET.
Join #1 New York Times bestselling author Jodi Picoult for a conversation with legendary editor Jennifer Hershey about Picoult's latest, By Any Other Name, a novel about two women, centuries apart—one of whom is the real author of Shakespeare's plays—who are both forced to hide behind another name.
Young playwright Melina Green has just written a new work inspired by the life of her Elizabethan ancestor Emilia Bassano. But seeing it performed is unlikely, in a theater world where the playing field isn't level for women. As Melina wonders if she dares risk failure again, her best friend takes the decision out of her hands and submits the play to a festival under a male pseudonym.
In 1581, young Emilia Bassano is a ward of English aristocrats. Her lessons on languages, history, and writing have endowed her with a sharp wit and a gift for storytelling, but like most women of her day, she is allowed no voice of her own. Forced to become a mistress to the Lord Chamberlain, who oversees all theatre productions in England, Emilia sees firsthand how the words of playwrights can move an audience. She begins to form a plan to secretly bring a play of her own to the stage--by paying an actor named William Shakespeare to front her work.
Told in intertwining timelines, By Any Other Name, a sweeping tale of ambition, courage, and desire centers two women who are determined to create something beautiful despite the prejudices they face. Should a writer do whatever it takes to see her story live on . . . no matter the cost? This remarkable novel, rooted in primary historical sources, ensures the name Emilia Bassano will no longer be forgotten.
ABOUT THE LIVE EVENT
- All tickets are general admission.
- Each ticket type includes one (1) SIGNED copy of By Any Other Name.
- All books are pre-signed. In lieu of personalization, each attendee will receive a professional photograph with Jodi.
- Mesa Arts Center Security and Safety Policies
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jodi Picoult is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-nine novels, including Mad Honey (co-authored with Jennifer Finney Boylan), Wish You Were Here, The Book of Two Ways, A Spark of Light, Small Great Things, Leaving Time, and My Sister's Keeper, and, with daughter Samantha van Leer, two young adult novels, Between the Lines and Off the Page. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Jennifer Hershey is Publisher, for Ballantine Bantam Dell. In addition to overseeing the editorial department, she acquires and edits fiction and nonfiction. Authors she works with include Jodi Picoult, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Isabel Allende, Colum McCann, Curtis Sittenfeld, Diana Gabaldon, Emily Giffin, Holly Jackson, Lisa Wingate, Frances Cha, Katherine Arden, William Landay, and Justin Cronin. Her nonfiction authors include Laura Hillenbrand and Carol Dweck, as well the late Stephen Hawking. She is the recipient of the 2023 Poets and Writers Editor Award for "outstanding contribution to the publication literary prose over a sustained period of time."
