Brooklyn by the Book: "On Grief" with Jennifer Senior & Andrew Solomon

Atlantic staff writer Jennifer Senior presents her Pulitzer Prize-winning essay "On Grief," in conversation with Andrew Solomon.
About this Event
Join Atlantic staff writer Jennifer Senior for a discussion of her unflinching, Pulitzer Prize–winning essay on mourning and recovery in the wake of an inconceivable tragedy, On Grief, in conversation with Andrew Solomon
Doors open at 6:15 PM.
Copies of On Grief will be available to purchase at the event.

Masks are required at all times within the venue.

Even if you are vaccinated, if you are not feeling well, please stay home.

Jennifer Senior is a staff writer at The Atlantic and winner of the 2022 Pulitzer for Feature Writing. Previously, she was a daily book critic and then columnist for The New York Times and a staff writer for New York Magazine. Her book All Joy and No Fun spent eight weeks on The New York Times bestseller list. Senior has also won a GLAAD award, two Front Page awards, and the Erikson Prize in Mental Health Media. She lives in New York with her husband and son.

Andrew Solomon, Ph.D., is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at Columbia University and a Lecturer in Psychology at Yale. He is past President of PEN America. He is a writer and lecturer on psychology, politics, and the arts and an activist in LGBT rights and mental health. Andrew writes regularly for The New Yorker and the New York Times. His 2012 book, Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity won the National Book Critics Circle award. He previously wrote The Noonday Demon: An Atlas of Depression, which won the 2001 National Book Award and was a finalist for the 2002 Pulitzer Prize. Most recently, he made an award-winning film of Far from the Tree, available on Hulu, and an audio book called New Family Values. Andrew lives with his husband and son in New York and London and is a dual national. He also has a daughter with a college friend.

On Grief
The unflinching Pulitzer Prize–winning essay on mourning and recovery in the wake of an inconceivable tragedy. An Atlantic Edition, featuring long-form journalism by Atlantic writers, drawn from contemporary articles or classic storytelling from the magazine’s 165-year archive.

When Bobby McIlvaine died in the Twin Towers on September 11, 2001, his loved ones spun off in radically different directions, each mourning in his or her own distinct—and often highly idiosyncratic—way. Twenty years later, Jennifer Senior, a family friend and award-winning reporter, revisits the McIlvaines, examines their present lives, and contemplates what grief really means, in all its jagged complexity.

Community Bookstore is Brooklyn's oldest operating bookstore, celebrating over 50 years in Park Slope. For more upcoming events visit our website.

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We are deeply committed to education for all ages, community-building, spiritual life, and social justice. We are inspired to learn about our tradition while we engage with the present and positively impact our future. Our Reform congregation welcomes seekers from all Jewish movements, from other faiths, and at all levels of Jewish experience, including those who are new to our traditions and those who are questioning.