Author Celeste Ng to Join Andre Dubus III for UMass Lowell Alumni Book Club Event

11/12/2026

Media Contacts: Nancy Cicco, associate director of media relations, Nancy_Cicco@uml.edu and David Joyner, executive director of communications and digital media, David_Joyner@uml.edu

LOWELL, Mass. – UMass Lowell will welcome New York Times bestselling author Celeste Ng this month as the next guest in the Andre Dubus III UMass Lowell Alumni Book Club, a free program for the campus community and public.

Ng, the author of “Little Fires Everywhere,” which was adapted into a Hulu miniseries, will join Dubus, an acclaimed writer and UMass Lowell English professor, for a discussion about her 2022 novel “Our Missing Hearts,” her creative process and more.

The online conversation will be held Thursday, Nov. 19 at 4 p.m. The event will be the third installment of the book club, following discussions with author Ann Patchett this past summer and horror master Stephen King in 2025. The series is sponsored by the university’s Office of Alumni Relations.

“We are thrilled to welcome Celeste Ng as our third guest for UMass Lowell’s Alumni Book Club. Ms. Ng is that rare contemporary writer whose work is as literary as it is commercial, which is just another way of saying that she writes beautifully and many, many readers know and appreciate that, including me; her gripping third novel, ‘Our Missing Hearts,’ is important and deeply moving, and I’m very much looking forward to our conversation on Nov. 19. Join us!” Dubus said. 

The novel traces 12-year-old Bird Gardiner’s quest to find his mother and know her poetry amid the political upheaval around him. 

Individuals who would like to attend the Zoom session should visit alumni.uml.edu to register. Attendees may also submit their questions to Ng as part of the discussion. 

“If you joined us for our previous events, you know what makes these conversations so special: Andre and his guests have a wonderful rapport, sharing stories, insights and reflections in a way that feels less like a formal interview and more like listening to two friends talk. It’s an engaging, behind-the-scenes look at the creative process and the minds of two remarkable writers,” said Scott Conway, executive director of alumni relations.

Ng’s three novels have each been named to the New York Times bestseller list. Her first work, “Everything I Never Told You,” also was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2014, Amazon’s No. 1 Best Book of 2014, and a best book of the year by more than a dozen publications. The novel received the Massachusetts Book Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, and the American Library Association’s Alex Award. It has been translated into more than 30 languages and is being adapted for the screen.

Her second novel, “Little Fires Everywhere” was a No. 1 New York Times bestseller and spent more than a year on the list. It was a No. 1 Indie Next bestseller; Amazon’s Best Fiction Book of 2017; and was named a best book of the year by more than 25 publications. The novel has been published in more than 30 languages, and its adaptation on Hulu featured actors Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington.

Ng grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Shaker Heights, Ohio. She graduated from Harvard University and earned a master of fine arts degree from the University of Michigan (now the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan). Her fiction and essays have appeared in the New York Times, The Guardian and many other publications. She is a recipient of the Pushcart Prize, a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts and a Guggenheim Fellowship, among other honors.

Dubus’ books include the New York Times’ bestsellers “House of Sand and Fog,” which was adapted into a film by the same name; “The Garden of Last Days;” and his memoir of growing up in Haverhill, “Townie.” His novel “Such Kindness” appeared on Amazon’s “Best Books of 2023” list, and a collection of personal essays, “Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin,” received praise for its unvarnished honesty. “Our Possible Life,” a collection of six interlinked stories, is due to be published next year. He has been a finalist for the National Book Award, and has received a Guggenheim Fellowship, The National Magazine Award for Fiction, three Pushcart Prizes, and is a recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature.

Members of the media who’d like to join the call to report on the session should contact UMass Lowell media relations to register.