Thurs 10/9 @ 1:30PM
Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau Street

Join a lively conversation with Princeton University graduate alumni authors Jasmin Darznik, Eszter Hargittai, Peter Lighte, and Xita Rubert as they share insights into their writing journeys, including the inspirations behind their work and their experiences from graduate study to publication.

Jasmin Darznik is a New York Times bestselling novelist who received her Ph.D. in English from Princeton University. Her books have been published in nineteen languages, and her fourth book, a novel about Rita Hayworth, is forthcoming in 2026. Darznik currently chairs the MFA in creative writing and Visual and Critical Studies programs at California College of the Arts in the San Francisco Bay Area, where she also teaches creative writing and contemporary literature. Her research focuses on forgotten women artists and the intersection of biography and historical fiction. Previous works include The Bohemians, which explores photographer Dorothea Lange's life, and Song of a Captive Bird, a novel about Iranian poet Forugh Farrokhzad.  She has contributed to The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Washington Post.

Eszter Hargittai is the author or editor of six books, most recently Wired Wisdom: How to Age Better Online, co-authored with John Palfrey. She is an elected fellow of the International Communication Association, where she is fellows chair, and an external member of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Her research has been supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the MacArthur, and Russell Sage foundations, among others. Hargittai holds a B.A. in sociology from Smith College and a Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton.

Peter Lighte studied Chinese culture at Princeton University and subsequently taught Chinese history and philosophy to college students. He began his career teaching Chinese history. When it ended, he had been founding chair of JPMorgan Chase Bank China, with three decades of international living in between. Straight Through The Labyrinth is the third of Lighte’s books—and his only narrative. The earlier two—Pieces of China and Host of Memories—are collections of vignettes, best appreciated as though read from aloft in a drone. Having been bitten by Jung’s concept of synchronicity—an interest triggered by his study of The Book of Changes (I Ching)—Lighte is alive to life’s untidy relationships that just might not be linked by time. Stuff keeps happening, so a new book is in the offing.

Xita Rubert is a Spanish novelist and Ph.D. candidate in comparative literature at Princeton. In 2024, she was the recipient of the Premio Herralde, the most prestigious prize for the novel in the Spanish language. Her books have been published by Anagrama in Spain and translated into several languages, with an English edition of The Key Biscayne Affair forthcoming in 2026. Rubert is currently finishing her doctoral dissertation, which focuses on Brazilian novelist Clarice Lispector, Argentinian short story writer Silvina Ocampo and British-Mexican artist Leonora Carrington. She has taught creative writing and 20th-century literature, with a special interest in medicine/literature overlaps.

This event is cosponsored by Princeton University’s Office of Alumni Engagement and Labyrinth Books.