The filmmaker Christian Petzold, who adapted Anna Seghers’s Transit (NYRB Classics) to screen in 2018, is coming out with a new movie this year called Afire. The film is set in a beach town in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, birthplace of the author Uwe Johnson and a key location in his masterwork, Anniversaries, which was published by NYRB Classics in 2018. Afire includes a hilarious reference to Uwe Johnson during its runtime, and to celebrate, we’re partnering with Sideshow and Janus Films for a special giveaway.

Two standout NYRB events from earlier this winter have been archived and posted online.

The first, “The Intimate Worlds of Colette,” was part of the Mechanics’ Institute’s three-day celebration of the 150th birthday of Colette, whose novels Chéri and The End of Chéri were recently translated by Paul Eprile and published by NYRB Classics in November 2022. Both Eprile and the author of the introduction of the NYRB Classics edition, Judith Thurman, took part in the event along with the writer and translator Zack Rogow.

The second, a conversation between Kilometer 101 author Maxim Osipov and the essayist and critic Becca Rothfeld, was part of Brookline Booksmith’s Transnational Reading Series.

Click through to the full post to watch the events.

Phillip Lopate, author of the forthcoming New York Review Books essay A Year and a Day, and Lore Segal, author of the forthcoming NYRB Kids book Tell Me a Mitzi, were both announced as newly elected members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters last month alongside other beloved cultural luminaries such as Percival Everett, Vivian Gornick, Frances McDormand, Francis Ford Coppola, and Yiyun Li.

The formal induction will take place during the Academy’s annual Ceremonial on May 24, 2023. You can learn more and see the other newly elected members here.