A year-round book festival dedicated to great conversations with today's best writers.

Paula McLain

Paula McLain received an MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan and has been awarded fellowships from Yaddo, the MacDowell Colony and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is the author of two collections of poetry, a memoir, “Like Family: Growing Up in Other People’s Houses,” and debut novel “A Ticket to Ride.” McLain’s most recent novel, “The Paris Wife,” earned rave reviews and is still on the NY Times best-seller list after more than 25 weeks (as of this posting).

A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, “The Paris Wife” captures a remarkable period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley. Following a whirlwind courtship and wedding in the 1920s, the pair set sail for Paris, where they become the golden couple in a lively and volatile group – the fabled “Lost Generation” – that includes Gertrude Stein, Ezra Pound, and F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald. McLain’s extensively researched and brilliantly written account is a page-turning portrayal of Hemingway’s tumultuous life and career, Jazz Age Paris, and one of the literary world’s most sweeping and heartbreaking romances.

McLain appeared with the National Writers Series on April 14, 2011. NWS director, Megan Raphael, interviewed McLain about “The Paris Wife” and the captivating story of Ernest and Hadley.