Should novelists review other people’s novels? Does their own experience in front of the blank page make them better, smarter, kinder critics? Do they approach the task of criticism differently? Hear from three writers of fiction and criticism as they talk about leading double lives!

Jane Ciabattari is the author of the short story collection Stealing the Fire and a regular reviewer for NPR.org, The Daily Beast, and many other publications. She serves as President of the National Book Critics Circle and is secretary for the OPC.

Lev Grossman is the book critic at Time magazine and the author of the novel The Magicians, which was a New York Times bestseller.

Roxana Robinson is the author of four novels: Summer Light, This Is My Daughter, Sweetwater and Cost; three collections of short stories: A Glimpse of Scarlet, Asking for Love, and A Perfect Stranger; and the biography Georgia O’Keeffe: A Life. For more than twenty years Robinson has reviewed works of fiction, biography and art history for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe.

Noreen Tomassi is Director of The Center for Fiction.

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