Novelist Lauren Groff on the other Matrix

The Gray Area with Sean Illing

Vox's Constance Grady talks with novelist Lauren Groff about her latest book, the National Book Award finalist Matrix, before a virtual audience for the Vox Book Club. They discuss the enigmatic historical figure at the center of the novel, the politics of women-led power structures, and the pros and cons of writing a good sex scene.

Host: Constance Grady (@constancegrady), staff writer, Vox

Guests: Lauren Groff (@legroff), author

References:

• Matrix by Lauren Groff (2021; Riverhead)
• "In Lauren Groff's Matrix, medieval nuns build a feminist utopia" by Constance Grady (Oct. 15, 2021; Vox)
• Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff (2016; Riverhead)
• The Lays of Marie de France (tr. Eugene Mason)
• Wayward Lives, Beautiful Experiments by Saidiya Hartman (2019; Norton)
• Book of Ages: The Life and Opinions of Jane Franklin by Jill Lepore (2014; Vintage)
• Arcadia by Lauren Groff (2012; Voice)

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This episode was made by:

• Producer: Erikk Geannikis
• Editor: Amy Drozdowska
• Engineer: Paul Robert Mounsey
• Deputy Editorial Director, Vox Talk: Amber Hall

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