Hanya Yanagihara (Photo credit: Jenny Westerhoff)

The University of East Anglia (UEA) will welcome Hanya Yanagihara, critically acclaimed author of the million-copy bestseller A Little Life, onto campus for a special one-off event with UEA Live, the University's literary festival, with tickets now on sale. 

On Thursday 23 March, Yanagihara will be discussing her latest novel To Paradise  with prominent arts interviewer Georgina Godwin, ahead of the West End debut for the stage adaptation of her second novel, A Little Life. 

Hanya Yanagihara is the editor in chief of T: The New York Times Style Magazine by day, and bestselling author by night. Her first novel, The People in the Trees, published in 2013, established the novelist’s twin interests in the traumas of the body and the way in which the mind seeks to absorb them – a theme she would return to. 

Yanagihara’s second novel, A Little Life, became a worldwide phenomenon when it was published in 2015, going on to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize 2015 and the Baileys Prize for Women’s Fiction 2016, and winning Fiction of the Year at the British Book Awards 2016. A powerful and heartbreaking story of love, friendship and the limits of human endurance, the novel focuses on four college graduates as they embrace the limitless possibilities of New York City.   

Now, Yanagihara has collaborated with acclaimed theatre director Ivo van Hove to bring the English language world premiere to stage at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London’s West End this March, starring BAFTA-nominated Happy Valley actor James Norton as Jude, Bridgerton’s Luke Thompson as Willem, It’s a Sin’s Omari Douglas as JB, and The Witcher’s Zach Wyatt as Malcolm.  

Yanagihara is set to make a rare UK appearance during her trip from New York City for the opening of the play and will discuss her latest novel – To Paradise. A Sunday Times #1 bestseller and widely hailed as a masterpiece, To Paradise spans three centuries and three different versions of the American experiment, about lovers, family, loss and the elusive promise of utopia.  

Tickets are on sale now at £10 per standard ticket, £8 concessions, or £6 for a digital ticket which offers a playback of the live event. To book, visit the UEA Live website.  

UEA staff and students have exclusive access to a half-price ticket rate of just £5. Please note that a valid student or staff ID number and UEA email address will be required when purchasing tickets. 

The event will be live in-person at the UEA Lecture Theatre 1 on campus, between 7-8pm. Following the conversation with Georgina Godwin, there will be an author Q&A, drinks reception and the opportunity to buy signed copies of Yanagihara’s books.  

For more information on the UEA Live festival, visit uealive.com.