Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife with author Francesca Wade

Join us for an insightful evening with author Francesca Wade as she discusses her groundbreaking new biography Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife.

Drawing on never-before-seen interviews and archival discoveries, Wade offers a richly researched and sweeping examination of one of the most influential—and mythologized—literary figures of the 20th century. She reintroduces us to Gertrude Stein: the polarizing genius, avant-garde writer, tastemaker, and host of the legendary salon at 27 rue de Fleurus that nurtured the likes of Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, and Henri Matisse.

Wade also shines a long-overdue light on Alice B. Toklas, Stein’s partner and collaborator, who dedicated her life after Stein’s death to safeguarding and shaping her legacy. From rediscovered manuscripts and hidden love letters to the evolving mythologies that surround both women, Wade’s book pushes beyond conventional biography to explore the nature of legacy, memory, and creative partnership.

"Thoughtful and deeply researched."—The Guardian

Don’t miss this captivating conversation about art, literature, love, and the making—and remaking—of a literary icon.

About the Author

Francesca Wade is the author of Square Haunting: Five Writers in London Between the Wars (2020). She has received fellowships from the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, the Leon Levy Center for Biography and the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and her writing has appeared in The New York Review of Books, London Review of Books, Paris Review, Granta, and elsewhere.

Host or Publisher Mechanics' Institute