Carleton’s Regional Carls Program

Regional Carls invite you to a

Virtual Book Reading
The Hidden Palace
by Helene Wecker '97,
in conversation with Professor Constance Walker

Tuesday, August 3, 2021
7:00 p.m. CDT

Zenith Bookstore
318 Central Ave North
Duluth MN  55807

Zenith Bookstore is thrilled to host Helene Wecker '97, who will discuss her new book The Hidden Palace in conversation with Constance Walker, the William R. Kenan, Jr. Professor of English at Carleton.

Helene Wecker's debut novel, The Golem and the Jinni, depicted the adventures of Chava (the golem) and Ahmad (the jinni), who meet in lower Manhattan at the turn of the 20th century. The book was lauded by the national review media as an utterly original work of marvelous storytelling and emotional depth, as entertaining as it is historically accurate. The book pulsates with Jewish and Arabic folklore and mythology. The Golem and the Jinni was awarded the Mythopoetic Award, the VCU Cabell Award, and the Harald U. Ribalow Prize. It was chosen as one of Entertainment Weekly's top Ten Works of Fiction for the year and featured in Buzzfeed's and Kirkus Reviews' best books of the year features.

Now in The Hidden Palace, in the lead up to World War I, these two fantastical creatures must decide what exactly they mean to each other, all the while living disguised as humans and fearing they'll be exposed for who they really are. The Hidden Palace follows these lives and others as they collide and interweave, while at the same time dealing with the challenges of immigration and assimilation and the internal struggle between individualism and one's community.

Helene Wecker holds a B.A. in English from Carleton and an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from Columbia University. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and children.

Cost: Free.

Format and Registration: To register, visit crowdcast.io/e/hwecker. Click on the green "Save My Spot" box and follow instructions. For more Information, visit the Facebook event or Zenith Bookstore.

Questions? Contact the Office of Alumni Relations at alumni-office@carleton.edu or 800-729-2586.