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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 from Random House/Ballantine 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. Her work bridges academic rigor with accessible storytelling, transforming scholarly research into historical fiction that brings forgotten voices back to life.
Eszter Hargittai is the author or editor of six books, most recently “Wired Wisdom: How to Age Better Online” (2025), co-authored with John Palfrey. Hargittai’s research focuses on the social and policy implications of digital media, with particular interest in digital inequality, how differences in people’s digital skills influence what they do online and how these differences may translate into changes in life chances. Her work has received awards from numerous professional associations. 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, Sloan, Markle, Dan David and Russell Sage foundations, Microsoft Research, Google, Facebook, Merck and Nokia, among others. Hargittai holds a B.A. in sociology from Smith College and a Ph.D. in sociology from Princeton.
Peter Lighte has come to realize that earning his Ph.D. in Chinese history was vocational, fostering the wherewithal that enabled him to create a family. Little did he expect to find himself in the crosshairs of the history he had studied. When his quest for a child became ensnared in Hong Kong’s handover back to China in 1997, he relied upon lessons learned from the classics and made use of the Chinese language to navigate the landscape, which was more cultural than bureaucratic. Add the bloodymindedness it took to complete his dissertation for the redoubtable F.W. Mote, news of two successful adoptions should come as no surprise. Had Princeton’s gift of the past not been so present, the story might have ended otherwise. Lighte 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. Princeton is now his home, in a house where he had been a cat-sitter as a student.
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 from Ecco/Harper Collins in 2026. Rubert is based in New York and 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.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Labyrinth Books Princeton, 122 Nassau St,Princeton, New Jersey, United States
