Organizer: PEN America

Type/Location: In Person / New York, NY

Description:

Writing a funny novel might be the hardest trick in fiction, but these writers make it look easy. Join Katie Yee and Benedict Nguyễn for a discussion about writing novels that tackle painful and complicated topics—and are hilarious. In Maggie; or A Man and a Woman Walk Into a Bar, Yee spins gold from heartbreak when a Chinese American woman’s husband leaves her for a white woman named Maggie. In Hot Girls with Balls, Nguyễn serves up a hilarious setup—two trans women, star-crossed lovers, playing on competing sides of a professional men’s indoor volleyball league.

Moderated by writer and arts administrator Jared Jackson, this discussion will explore the craft of writing comedy that stings and how humor can illuminate betrayal, grief, and the messiness of life.

About the Speakers:

Benedict Nguyễn is a dancer, writer, and creative producer. She appeared in the short film “Don’t F*ck with Bà” (2024, dir. Sally Tran) and has collaborated on recent projects with Sally Silvers and Sugar Vendil. She is the author of the [redacted] freelance labor zine nasty notes (2022) and the novel Hot Girls with Balls (Catapult, 2025), a USA Today national bestseller and Indie Next Pick.

Katie Yee is a writer from Brooklyn. She has received fellowships from the Center for Fiction, the Asian American Writers’ Workshop, and Kundiman. Her work has appeared in Los Angeles Review of Books, No Tokens, The Believer, Washington Square Review, Triangle House, Epiphany, and Literary Hub. She works at the Brooklyn Museum and writes under the watch of her rescue dog, Ollie.

Registration:

To attend the event in person, please register here.