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2023 Marian McFadden Memorial Lecture

Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Bestselling novelist and British Fantasy Award and Locus Award winning author Silvia Moreno-Garcia will be the featured speaker at our 44th Annual Marian McFadden Memorial Lecture.

The lecture will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday, September 28 at the Madam Walker Legacy Center.

All free tickets to the event have been claimed at this time. We encourage you to submit your name to our waitlist for a chance to attend. Look for updates from Eventbrite as seats become available.

Add your name to the waitlist here.

If you are unable to get a ticket, a recording of the lecture will be available for 30 days afterward on our YouTube channel.

For updated information as we get closer to the event, please check back on this page or email us.

Mexican by birth, Canadian by inclination, Silvia Moreno-Garcia is the author of a number of critically acclaimed novels, including Gods of Jade and Shadow (Sunburst Award for Excellence in Canadian Literature of the Fantastic, Ignyte Award), Mexican Gothic (Locus Award, British Fantasy Award, Pacific Northwest Book Award, Aurora Award, Goodreads Award), and Velvet Was the Night (finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize and the Macavity Award).

She has edited several anthologies, including She Walks in Shadows (World Fantasy Award winner, published in the USA as Cthulhu’s Daughters). Silvia is the publisher of Innsmouth Free Press. Her fiction has appeared in numerous magazines and anthologies.

She has an MA in Science and Technology Studies from the University of British Columbia. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

IndyPL is hosting additional author events throughout 2023. Learn more and register.

What to Read Next Based on Your Favorite Silvia Moreno-Garcia Book

Silvia Moreno-Garcia is an award-winning author whose writings span time periods, genres, and settings. Most readers are at least passably familiar with her gothic horror novel, Mexican Gothic, but Moreno-Garcia has also written a fantastical historical-romance novel The Beautiful Ones, a 70s noir mystery Velvet Was the Night, and a dark urban fantasy novel Certain Dark Things, amongst others. With such a wide range of genres, it is possible that readers will adore one of her novels and find another not quite to their taste. To help the adventurous reader navigate Silvia Moreno-Garcia's 8 published novels (and her short story collection), this list pairs each of her novels with a book that is similar in theme, tone, and/or plot.

Silver Nitrate

Moreno-Garcia, Silvia

Silvia Moreno-Garcia's latest novel follows sound editor Montserrat and her best friend, Tristian, as they're drawn into the orbit of their neighbor Abel Ureta, who claims to be a cursed film maker. The book includes some Nazi occultism, film industry glamor, ghosts, and lots and lots of mayhem.

Medusa's Web

Powers, Tim

If you're looking for another book that combines the occult with obscure film history, check out Medusa's Web, which turns a sharp eye to the Golden Age of Hollywood. The book starts as siblings Madeline and Scott are called back to their childhood home, only to uncover a connection between inked drawings, old films, and family secrets.

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau

A Novel

Moreno-Garcia, Silvia

The Daughter of Doctor Moreau is a reimagining of H.G. Wells classic novel, The Island of Doctor Moreau, set in 19th century Mexico and featuring Doctor Moreau's daughter, Carlota Moreau.

Past Lecturers:

  • 2022 - Kadir Nelson
  • 2021 - Cancelled due to COVID-19
  • 2020 - Cancelled due to COVID-19
  • 2019 - Ta-Nehisi Coates
  • 2018 - Jeff Kinney
  • 2017 - Junot Díaz
  • 2016 - Jacqueline Woodson
  • 2015 - Khaled Hosseini
  • 2014 - David Wiesner
  • 2013 - Ann Patchett
  • 2012 - Mo Willems
  • 2011 - Bob Woodward
  • 2010 - Neil Gaiman
  • 2009 - Nicholas Sparks
  • 2008 - Eric Carle
  • 2007 - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (delivered by Mark Vonnegut)
  • 2006 - Patricia Cornwell
  • 2005 - Marc Brown
  • 2004 - John Irving
  • 2003 - Louis Sachar
  • 2002 - David McCullough
  • 2001 - Tomie dePaola
  • 2000 - Doris Kearns Goodwin
  • 1999 - Judy Blume
  • 1998 - Margaret Atwood
  • 1997 - Jon Scieszka & Lane Smith
  • 1996 - Amy Tan
  • 1995 - Gary Paulsen
  • 1994 - William Styron
  • 1993 - Chris Van Allsburg
  • 1992 - Gail Godwin
  • 1991 - Maurice Sendak
  • 1990 - John Updike
  • 1989 - David Macaulay
  • 1988 - Tom Wolfe
  • 1987 - Lloyd Alexander
  • 1986 - Kurt Vonnegut
  • 1985 - Jean Fritz
  • 1984 - James Baldwin
  • 1983 - Richard Peck
  • 1982 - Gail Sheehy
  • 1981 - Scott O'Dell
  • 1980 - Norman Mailer
  • 1979 - Elaine L. Konigsburg
  • 1978 - Saul Bellow

The Marian McFadden Memorial Lecture Series was established after the Library Foundation received a gift from the estate of Marian McFadden, Director of Public Libraries in Indianapolis from 1945-1956. This annual author lecture series, which typically takes place in the Spring, was named in her honor.

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Made possible by Friends of the Library through gifts to The Indianapolis Public Library Foundation.