2026 Beyond The Page Keynote Speaker: In Conversation with Ted Chiang

Thursday, April 16, 2026 @ 7 PM via Zoom

Ted Chiang has become a definitive voice in speculative fiction, captivating readers with his award-winning collections Stories of Your Life and Others and Exhalation. He possesses a masterful ability to bridge the gap between rigorous scientific inquiry and the profound depths of human emotion. His work serves as a modern exploration of the “what if,” often using our evolving relationship with technology to challenge our understanding of free will, memory, and consciousness. These stories resonate because they grapple with the fundamental questions of what it means to be sentient in an evolving universe. In this keynote, Chiang will discuss various themes found in Exhalation: Stories, with a focus on the persistence of wonder and how shifting the lens of logic can fundamentally alter our perspective on the nature of existence.

Sponsored by the Hopewell Valley Regional School District and the Friends of the Pennington Library

This event is part of our 2026 Beyond the Page – an initiative designed to broaden our imaginations and understanding of our world, our neighbors, and ourselves through the joy of sharing a good book.  The featured book Exhalation contains nine stunningly original, provocative, and poignant stories, where author Ted Chiang tackles some of humanity’s oldest questions, along with new quandaries only he could imagine. Please visit PenningtonLibrary.org/2026BeyondThePage for a full calendar of events and more information.