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Behind the Books: Allegra Goodman

Meet bestselling novelist Allegra Goodman!

Ms. Goodman's newest novel, This Is Not About Us (February 2026) is a kaleidoscopic portrait of a modern American family. Her other books include Sam (a Read With Jenna Book Club selection), The Chalk Artist (winner of the Massachusetts Book Award), Intuition, The Cookbook Collector, Paradise Park, and Kaaterskill Falls (a National Book Award finalist) and Isola (2025), is an epic saga about a French noblewoman deserted on an island where her survival depends on the power of her faith and love. Her fiction has appeared in The New Yorker, Commentary, and Ploughshares and has been anthologized in The O. Henry Awards and Best American Short Stories. She has written two collections of short stories, The Family Markowitz and Total Immersion and a novel for younger readers, The Other Side of the Island.

Raised in Honolulu, Goodman studied English and philosophy at Harvard and received a PhD in English literature from Stanford. She is the recipient of a Whiting Writer’s Award, the Salon Award for Fiction, and a fellowship from the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced study. She lives with her family in Cambridge, Mass, where she is writing a new novel.

On Thursday, September 17, 2026, Ms. Goodman will discuss her work in a presentation at the Wilmington Senior Center. Copies of her books will be available for purchase. This event is recommended for teens and adults.

Free. Registration required. This event begins at 7:30 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for book sales and a cash bar.

Other details: This is an indoor event. There is no hybrid/Zoom component to this program. There is no ticket needed on the day of the event. If you are registered to attend, your name will be on a printed list at the check-in table. Library staff will check your name off the registrant list.

For more information, contact Nathalie Harty | nharty@wilmlibrary.org

Funded by generous contributions from the Friends of Wilmington Memorial Library and a state aid grant administered by the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

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