Michelle Huneven & Claire Lombardo
About the event
Michelle Huneven and Claire Lombardo: A Literary Feast for the Soul
JUNE 17, 2025
Excitement, literary and otherwise, was palpable at June 17th Open Book conversation featuring acclaimed novelists Michelle Huneven and Claire Lombardo. That the event coincided with the publication date of Huneven’s new novel, Bug Hollow, and exactly one year since Lombardo’s latest, Same As It Ever Was, was serendipitous icing on the Open Book cake.
The New York Times recently named Bug Hollow to their Summer Read List, and the book Huneven’s sixth, received the highest praise in the NYT review. Meanwhile, Lombardo’s family dramas, explored in her latest novel, Same as It Ever Was (named one of the Best Books of 2024 by the Washington Post, NPR, and People) and the New York Times bestselling The Most Fun We Ever Had, provided lots of similar themes for discussion.
Huneven and Lombardo clearly enjoyed their conversation about their decades-long novels that explore the themes of love and loss, secrets and heartbreak, and the myths and mistakes that shape our most cherished relationships - especially those with our parents and siblings. They acknowledged that while some of their female characters are not so loveable, the father figures they bring to life are typically “nice men that readers really like.”
Add to the above the delights of our hosted happy hour (beverages courtesy of Jones Coffee), a buzzy and beautiful environment (Doheny Eye Institute in Pasadena, thank you very much), beaming literature lovers making connections left, right and center, and a book signing with the chatty and accessible Huneven and Lombardo, and what do you have? OPEN BOOK!
Photos from the event
Featured Authors
Featured Books
At this event
Michelle Huneven
Michelle Huneven received an M.F.A. at the Iowa Writer’s Workshop and her first published story won a G.E. Younger Writers Award and was republished in Harper’s Magazine. She is known for five enthralling novels, including Round Rock, Jamesland, Blame, Off Course, and Search. Her books have been New York Times Notable Books and finalists for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award. Kirkus Reviews calls her soon to be released novel, Bug Hollow, “A deeply satisfying novel, Huneven’s best work to date.” She is the recipient of a Whiting Award for Fiction, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a James Beard Award, and a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Michelle is also an award-winning restaurant critic and food writer for the LA Times and the LA Weekly and has also written journalism for the New York Times, Gourmet, O and many other periodicals. She currently lives with her husband in Altadena, where she was born and raised.
Claire Lombardo
Claire Lombardo is the author of the nationally-bestselling novel Same As It Ever Was. Her debut, The Most Fun We Ever Had, was an instant New York Times bestseller and a Reese's Book Club pick. Claire is a graduate of the University of Illinois-Chicago and the Iowa Writers' Workshop.
Her short fiction has appeared in, among others, Playboy, Barrelhouse Magazine, Little Fiction, and Longform. Her story, I Only Want to Talk About the Nice Things, was one of 2016's Best of the Net, and was #1 on Longform's 2015 fiction list.
Prior to publishing The Most Fun We Ever Had, Claire spent several years working with homeless children and families in Chicago. She has taught fiction writing at the Iowa Writers' Workshop and Grinnell College and worked as a bookseller at Prairie Lights Books.
