Tickets available from the Jacob Burns Film Center.

New 4K Restoration of Frank Perry’s 1972 classic based on Joan Didion’s 1970 novel. Burned-out B-movie actress Maria (Tuesday Weld), depressed and frustrated with her loveless marriage to an ambitious film director, numbs herself with drugs and sex with strangers. Only her friendship with a sensitive gay movie producer, B.Z. (Anthony Perkins), offers a semblance of solace. But even that relationship proves to be fleeting amidst the empty decadence of Hollywood.

After the film, join New York Times Film Critic Alissa Wilkinson for a Q&A about her new book We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine. With bylines spanning six decades, Joan Didion’s legacy towers over the landscape of American letters. Although she launched her career in New York City, she soon struck out for Los Angeles, where the nation’s dreams were manufactured—and every aspect of her work reflected what she saw there, whether she was writing on politics, society, or herself.

Copies of Alissa’s new book will be available for sale after the screening courtesy of The Village Bookstore.

Tickets: $15 (members), $20 (nonmembers)

I’m teaming up with the good folks at Five Things I’ve Learned to teach a 90-minute class on mythmaking and Joan Didion. You can learn more here and register for a $40 ticket, which includes playback of the recording.

In this 90-minute class we’ll explore five things I’ve learned about myth-making from Joan Didion, and what it means for us. We’ll think about what she can teach us about these topics:

• The stories our families and cultures give us to live by

• How imagery is powerful in myth-making

• The way that Hollywood, in particular, has shaped how we understand the world

• How celebrities from John Wayne to Martha Stewart create a mythology for themselves, and why we love it

• How writing about mythologies unlocks the stories behind our stories

Whether you’re a Didion aficionado or haven’t read any of her work, I hope you’ll join me to discover what she has to say, and get a new perspective from her on our current cultural moment. Plus, you’ll come away with a fabulous introduction to the life and work of one of her generation’s greatest writers.

More details available from the American Library in Paris. This event will be both in-person and livestreamed.

Alissa will join Brian Castleberry (The Californians) for a conversation about “California Dreaming,” moderated by writer and critic Kate Tuttle. The event is free and more details are available from the Montclaire Literary Festival.

Didion, Babitz, Isherwood: if you're a writer, or a reader, it's impossible to avoid the influence of their work in contemporary literary culture. These three fascinating, deeply researched books take a closer look at each icon: their work, their relationships, their rivalries (sometimes with each other), and the parts of their lives that didn't always make it into their writing.

With Lili Anolik, Patt Morrison, and Katherine Bucknell. Tickets required.

Alissa will be at the bookstore Maison Plage for a book signing event, with drinks and hors d’oeuvres provided. More details are available from Maison Plage. RSVP to info@maisonplage.com.

This is a ticketed event — purchase your tickets here!

Alissa and Carrie Courogen, author of Miss May Does Not Exist, will discuss "Hollywood's Outside-Insiders: Joan Didion and Elaine May" with Times Union journalist C.J. Lais Jr. More details are available from the Festival.

This is a free event; see more details at Barnes & Noble’s website.

This is a LIVE from NYPL event!

To join the event in-person | Please register for an In-Person Ticket. Doors will open 30 minutes before the program begins. Booked seats that have not been claimed will be released shortly before start time, and seats may become available then. A standby line will form 30 minutes before the program.

To join the livestream | A livestream of this event will be available on this NYPL event page. To receive an email reminder shortly in advance of the event, please be sure to register! If you encounter any issues, please join us on NYPL's YouTube channel.

This is a ticketed event; tickets available from the Museum.

The Museum of the Moving Image presents a screening of the megahit A Star Is Born, co-written by Didion and John Gregory Dunne, and starring Barbra Streisand and Kris Kristofferson, followed by a discussed between Alissa Wilkinson and author Lauren Sandler (This Is All I Got: A New Mother’s Search for Home). Followed by a book signing. 

This event is free and open to the public, but RSVP is required. You can RSVP here.

This is a ticketed event. Tickets are available from The Commonwealth Club.

Alissa will be in conversation with Kevin Smokler, author of Break the Frame: Conversations with Women Filmmakers (Oxford University Press, April 24, 2025). His documentary film, Vinyl Nation is distributed by 1091 Pictures.

This event is free but space is limited, and registration is required. You can register at Mrs. Dalloway’s Bookstore.

Alissa will be in conversation with Lee Kravetz, who is the author of the novel The Last Confessions of Sylvia P., as well as acclaimed nonfiction, Strange Contagion and SuperSurvivors.  He has written for print and television, including The New York Times, New York Magazine, The Atlantic, Psychology Today, The Daily Beast, The San Francisco Chronicle, and PBS. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

This is a ticketed event, with an option to pre-order as well. Tickets available from Godmothers.

Alissa will be in conversation with Amy Nicholson, who is the film critic of the Los Angeles Times. She is a current on-air voice at LAist and KCRW, and a member of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and the National Society of Film Critics. Her book “Tom Cruise: Anatomy of an Actor” was printed by Cahiers du Cinema/Phaidon Press, and her second, “Extra Girls,” will be published by Simon & Schuster. Nicholson also co-hosts the movie podcast “Unspooled.”

This is a free event; details available from Book Soup’s website.

Alissa will be in conversation with Justin Chang, who is a film critic at The New Yorker. He also reviews movies for NPR’s “Fresh Air.” Previously, he was the film critic at the Los Angeles Times and the chief film critic at Variety. His book “FilmCraft: Editing” was published in 2011. Chang serves as the chair of the National Society of Film Critics and the secretary of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and is a member of the New York Film Festival selection committee. He teaches at the Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism at the University of Southern California. In 2024, he won the Pulitzer Prize for criticism, for his writing about film at the Los Angeles Times.

This event is free, and seating is first come, first served. Details from Politics & Prose.

Alissa will be in conversation with Dan Kois. Kois is a longtime writer and editor at Slate, and the author of five books, most recently the novel Hampton Heights. He also hosts the Martin Amis podcast, the Martin Chronicles. He lives in Arlington with his family.

This is a ticketed event; you can purchase tickets from The Strand.

Alissa will be in conversation with Rachel Syme, who is a writer, reporter, cultural critic and author of Syme’s Letter Writer. As a New Yorker staff writer, she covers style, Hollywood, and the arts. Her past work has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, GQ, Esquire, Elle, Vogue, and on NPR. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, where she writes her letters on a big walnut desk that looks out over a garden.

In collaboration with Image Journal. This event is free and open to the public, but registration is required. You can register here. The event begins at 4:00pm EST.

As a special thanks for preordering We Tell Ourselves Stories, Image Journal would love to offer you a complimentary one-year subscription to Image. Upload your proof of purchase (image of receipt) and fill out the form to claim your free subscription!

Alissa will be in conversation with Lauren F. Winner, who writes and lectures widely on Christian practice, the history of Christianity in America, and Jewish-Christian relations. Her books include Girl Meets God, Mudhouse Sabbath, A Cheerful and Comfortable Faith, Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis, Wearing God, and The Dangers of Christian Practice, which examines the effects of sin and damage on Christian practice. Dr. Winner, an Episcopal priest, is vicar of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Louisburg, N.C, and Image's creative nonfiction editor.

This is a free event; see more details at Barnes & Noble’s website.

Alissa will be in conversation with Isaac Butler, author of The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act (2022) and co-author (with Dan Kois) of The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America. His writing has appeared in New York, The Guardian, American Theatre, and other publications. He has also written for Slate, where he created and hosted Lend Me Your Ears, a podcast about Shakespeare and politics, and co-hosted Working, a podcast about the creative process. His work as a director has been seen on stages throughout the United States. He is the co-creator, with Darcy James Argue and Peter Nigrini, of Real Enemies, a multimedia exploration of conspiracy theories in the American psyche, which was named one of the best live events of 2015 by The New York Times and has been adapted into a feature-length film. Butler teaches theater history and performance at The New School and elsewhere, and lives in Brooklyn.

This is a free event. See more details at Harvard Book Store.

Alissa will be in conversation with Bradford Winters, who is a writer/producer and TV showrunner whose multiple one-hour dramas include Oz, Boss, The Americans, Berlin Station and The Sinner. The creator of the screen and comic-book project Americatown, about the world's first enclave of American immigrants abroad in a dystopic near future, Winters is also a published poet whose work has appeared in various journals. He lives in Boston with his family.

Alissa will be introducing a new 4K restoration of “Play It As It Lays,” adapted from Joan Didion’s novel by Didion and John Gregory Dunne and directed by Frank Perry. Following the screening, she’ll be signing books in the Film Forum lobby. See more details and purchase tickets here.

Alissa will be introducing a new 4K restoration of “Play It As It Lays,” adapted from Joan Didion’s novel by Didion and John Gregory Dunne and directed by Frank Perry. Following the screening, she’ll be signing books in the Film Forum lobby. See more details and purchase tickets here.

Details at Skylark Bookshop.