Six Bridges Festival: Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney / Judy Batalion / Tolani Akinola

Moderated by Rebekah Lewis

Six Bridges Book Festival presents Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney (The Lake Effect),Judy Batalion (The Last Woman of Warsaw), and Tolani Akinola (Leave Your Mess at Home). Moderated by Rebekah Lewis.

Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney is the author of the New York Times bestselling novels The Nest (named a best book of the year by People, the Washington Post, and NPR) and Good Company (a Read with Jenna selection). She has been a guest on Today, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and NPR’s All Things Considered. Her work has been translated into more than 28 languages, and The Nest is in development as a limited series with AMC Studios. Sweeney, who holds an MFA from the Bennington Writing Seminars, lives with her husband in New York City. 
 
In Lake Effect, when Nina Larkin is given a copy of The Joy of Sex by her newly divorced friend, she can no longer dismiss the nearly nonexistent intimacy of her marriage. Just as her oldest child, Clara, is falling in love for the first time, Nina finds herself longing for the forbidden: a midlife awakening. An intoxicating fling with a prominent neighbor brings Nina a freedom she never thought possible—but also risks the reputations of both families and unravels Clara’s world, just as she stands on the threshold of adulthood.  

Judy Batalion

Judy Batalion is the author of several award-winning works of nonfiction, most recently the New York Times bestselling history The Light of Days, which won a National Jewish Book Award. Batalion’s work has been translated into 24 languages, was optioned by Warner Bros. and Amblin Partners, and has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Vogue, the Forward, Salon, and others. The Last Woman of Warsaw is her first novel. 
 
Set in the dazzling and sophisticated pre-war capital of Poland, The Last Woman of Warsaw follows two very different young Jewish women—Fanny, a feisty fashion photographer, and Zosia, a political activist. The women are unexpectedly thrown together on a rescue mission and develop an unlikely and powerful friendship as they search for love, freedom, and a sense of home. 

Tolani Akinola

Tolani Akinola is a Reese’s Book Club LitUp Fellow. She holds a BA from the University of Chicago and an MPH from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. She lives outside of Atlanta. 
 
In the novel Leave Your Mess at Home, when the four Longe siblings find themselves together again at their Nigerian immigrant parents’ Thanksgiving table, a decade’s worth of secrets and a lifetime of resentments explode to the fore. Big-hearted, hilarious, and poignant, Leave Your Mess at Home is an insightful debut about forgiveness, unconditional love, and becoming who you want to be, asking the question: what do we owe to our families, and what do we owe to ourselves? 

ASL interpretation will be provided for all Six Bridges sessions held in CALS Ron Robinson Theater. ASL interpretation for sessions at other CALS locations and Six Bridges venues (including CALS Main Library) will be provided by request. To request ASL interpretation, please submit an ASL Interpretation Request form.

CALS will validate parking in the CALS Library Square surface lot and the CALS Parking Deck. The entrance to the surface lot is located on 2nd Street near River Market Ave. The entrance to the parking deck is located on Rock Street and can be accessed from President Clinton Ave. Street parking is also available throughout the River Market District (free after 6pm and on weekends).