Uploaded May 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A conversation with New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson on her book, We Tell Ourselves Stories, examining Joan Didion’s influence through the lens of American mythmaking.
Filmed on 5/13/2025 with a live audience both in person and on Zoom.
New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson explores Joan Didion’s complex relationship with Hollywood, from her early fascination with Western myths to her time as a screenwriter at the twilight of the studio era. In We Tell Ourselves Stories, Wilkinson examines how Didion’s writing dissected the fears, fantasies, and fabrications that define American storytelling—on and off the screen.
This conversation was moderated by writer and literary critic Joanna Scutts.
About the speakers:
Alissa Wilkinson is a film critic at the New York Times and was formerly a senior correspondent and critic at Vox. Her previous book, Salty: Lessons on Eating, Drinking, and Living from Revolutionary Women, was published in 2022. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Joanna Scutts is a writer and literary critic based in Paris. She is a regular contributor to the New York Times Book Review and her work has appeared in the Guardian, New Republic, Times Literary Supplement and New Yorker. Her books focus on overlooked women’s histories of the early 20th century and include Firebrands: 25 Women Writers to Enrich Your Reading Life, and Hotbed: Bohemian New York and the Secret Club that Sparked Modern Feminism. Her new project explores the history of American women in Paris.
Evenings with an Author is generously sponsored by GRoW @ Annenberg.
A conversation with New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson on her book, We Tell Ourselves Stories, examining Joan Didion’s influence through the lens of American mythmaking.
Filmed on 5/13/2025 with a live audience both in person and on Zoom.
New York Times film critic Alissa Wilkinson explores Joan Didion’s complex relationship with Hollywood, from her early fascination with Western myths to her time as a screenwriter at the twilight of the studio era. In We Tell Ourselves Stories, Wilkinson examines how Didion’s writing dissected the fears, fantasies, and fabrications that define American storytelling—on and off the screen.
This conversation was moderated by writer and literary critic Joanna Scutts.
About the speakers:
Alissa Wilkinson is a film critic at the New York Times and was formerly a senior correspondent and critic at Vox. Her previous book, Salty: Lessons on Eating, Drinking, and Living from Revolutionary Women, was published in 2022. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Joanna Scutts is a writer and literary critic based in Paris. She is a regular contributor to the New York Times Book Review and her work has appeared in the Guardian, New Republic, Times Literary Supplement and New Yorker. Her books focus on overlooked women’s histories of the early 20th century and include Firebrands: 25 Women Writers to Enrich Your Reading Life, and Hotbed: Bohemian New York and the Secret Club that Sparked Modern Feminism. Her new project explores the history of American women in Paris.
Evenings with an Author is generously sponsored by GRoW @ Annenberg.
