Literary Fall Returns to Villa Albertine in September

Literary Fall: Imaginary Worlds is a two-day international literary festival celebrating stories that cross borders and shape imagination, bringing together authors, translators, critics, and publishers from France and the US. Friday opens with a conversation between Leïla Slimani—Goncourt Prize winner and author of *The Perfect Nanny*—and Jhumpa Lahiri, Pulitzer Prize winner of *The Namesake*, discussing Slimani's new novel *I'll Take the Fire*, a provocative coming-of-age story about a young Arab woman's pursuit of sexual and political freedom. The day also features sessions on the future of literary translation and new voices in French and Francophone fiction, with translators Allison Markin Powell and Katrine Øgaard Jensen, and critics including Kaiama L. Glover, an award-winning translator and Yale professor of African American Studies and French.

Saturday dives into speculative worlds across comics, science fiction, fantasy, romantasy, and horror. Cartoonist Matt Madden, author of *99 Ways to Tell a Story*, joins French comics writer Fabrice Sapolsky (co-creator of Marvel's *Spider-Man Noir*) to trace how French comics shaped American visual storytelling. Bestselling authors Kate Dramis (*The Curse of Saints*) and John Scalzi (Hugo Award winner, *Old Man's War* series) anchor conversations on the global romantasy boom and the politics of speculative fiction, alongside editors from major French and American presses and *The New Yorker* staff writer Katy Waldman. Horror closes the day with Paul Tremblay (*The Cabin at the End of the World*) and international voices exploring the genre's growing appeal.

All events are presented in English at Villa Albertine's Marble Room in a historic mansion on Fifth Avenue. Admission is free but requires RSVP on a first-come, first-served basis as space is limited. A book signing and reception follow Friday's main conversation.