Novelist & Poet Idra Novey to Make Virtual Visit to Whitman College
The award-winning Princeton University creative writing professor will read from her works and answer audience questions
By Ananya Mehrotra ’27
Photo by Jesse Ditmar
Poet, novelist and translator Idra Novey will appear virtually at Whitman College on Thursday, April 3, to read for the Visiting Writers Reading Series at 6 p.m. in Kimball Theatre in Hunter Conservatory. Through her work, Novey explores themes of displacement, resilience and the transformative power of literature, offering readers a richly textured understanding of the human experience.
Novey’s most recent novel, “Take What You Need” (Viking, 2023), explores family, loss and artistic legacy in the Allegheny Mountains of Appalachia. After the death of her estranged stepmother, Leah returns to find her house filled with sculptures made from industrial scraps and a mysterious young man living there. A New York Times Notable Book of 2023, a finalist for the Joyce Carol Oates Prize, and longlisted for the Dublin Literary Award, the novel delves into family dynamics and the power of art, showing how creativity, unexpected friendships and self-discovery can arise from what’s discarded.
Novey teaches in Princeton University’s Creative Writing Program. Her new book of poems, “Soon and Wholly” (Wesleyan University Press, 2024), was selected as a 2024 Poetry Foundation Staff Pick and named one of Electric Literature’s Best Poetry Books of 2024.
When she’s not writing fiction or poetry, Novey is deeply engaged in literary translation, bringing global voices to new audiences. Her translations and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post and The Guardian, showcasing her sharp insight into language, identity and storytelling across cultures. Novey’s works as a translator include Clarice Lispector’s “The Passion According to G.H.” and a co-translation with Ahmad Nadalizadeh of Iranian poet Garous Abdolmalekian’s “Lean Against This Late Hour,” which was a finalist for the PEN America Award for Poetry in Translation in 2021.
Novey will read from her work and engage in a Q&A session. The event is open to both the Whitman community and the public.
More on the Series
The Visiting Writers Reading Series includes six visiting writers this academic year over the course of five events, as well as one event each semester for current creative writing students to share their work. The VWRS is sponsored by the Whitman’s Department of English, the Office of the Provost and Dean of the Faculty, the Lawrence Parke Murphy and Robert Goldstein Trust, and generous individual donors.