Join acclaimed author Rita Bullwinkel as she discusses her writing journey and reads from her new novel Headshot.

Rita Bullwinkel is the author of Headshot and Belly Up, a story collection that won the Believer Book Award. She is a 2022 recipient of a Whiting Award. She is the editor of McSweeney's Quarterly, a contributing editor at NOON, and the Picador Guest Professor of Literature at Leipzig University in Germany, where she teaches courses on creative writing, zines, and the uses of invented and foreign languages as tools for world building.

Rita, who taught in the CCA MFA Writing program while writing this book, offers a dynamic portrayal of eight young women slugging it out for a junior boxing championship.

“Make room, American fiction, for a meaningful new voice.” - Dwight Garner, The New York Times. 

After reading from Headshot, there will be a brief Q&A with Professor Leslie Carol Roberts, who leads Tuesday Talks, followed by audience questions and a book signing.

A BEST BOOK OF 2024: NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW ∙ NPR ∙ VULTURE ∙ THE GUARDIAN

LONGLISTED FOR THE BOOK PRIZE & THE CENTER FOR FICTION FIRST NOVEL PRIZE

“Make room, American fiction, for a meaningful new voice.” —New York Times Book Review

“A knockout.” —NPR

“Mesmerizing . . . as tense and disciplined as its characters.” —Vulture 

“Brilliant.” —The Atlantic 

“A brilliant, unpredictable book, one that carefully explores its characters’ real-world yearnings while finding fresh ways to consider the central mystery of human consciousness.” —San Francisco Chronicle

“Bullwinkel takes the gloves off teenage girlhood, leaving it splayed out in all its wonder, humor, violence, and glory.” —Oprah Daily

Image Credit: Jenna Garrett

Jacket design: Lynn Buckley