Wednesday, September 10, 12:00 p.m. ET
Barbetta Restaurant, 321 W. 46th St., New York (an iconic woman-owned restaurant on Restaurant Row)
$65 for members; $75 for non-members; $35 for active Scholars
Lunch included
Join WMG for a very special luncheon featuring outspoken journalist, political commentator, columnist, and podcaster Molly Jong-Fast. Jong-Fast returns to WMG to discuss her New York Times bestselling book, How To Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir. Usually taking the role of asking questions, this time Jong-Fast turns her journalistic inquisitiveness inward.
The only child of the groundbreaking feminist writer Erica Jong, whose influential 1973 novel, The Fear of Flying, influenced the founders of WMG, Jong-Fast examines her childhood of privilege set against the backdrop of an erratic mother who was often inaccessible and focused primarily on herself. When her mother slips into dementia, Jong-Fast struggles with “the bereft, broken feeling of something ending before it ever got the chance to start,” while looking for ways for mother and daughter to reclaim a bit of each other.
This unique in-person event continues WMG’s tradition of dining at the legendary woman-owned restaurant, Barbetta, where you’ll enjoy a three-course lunch and have time for networking before Jong-Fast's author talk.
About the speaker:
Molly Jong-Fast is a New York Times bestselling author, political commentator, and cultural critic known for her fearless honesty, sharp wit, and unfiltered take on the world around us. As a contributing writer for Vanity Fair and the host of the podcast Fast Politics, she brings clarity, urgency, and humor to some of the most complex issues in American life today. Her latest memoir, How to Lose Your Mother, is a candid, moving, and often funny reflection on caregiving, grief, and the tangled relationships between mothers and daughters—striking a chord with readers across generations. Molly’s writing has appeared in The Forward, The Bulwark, Playboy, and Glamour, and she is a regular contributor on MSNBC, where she offers sharp, on-the-ground political analysis. Whether she's unpacking national news or reflecting on the messiness of modern life, Molly creates space for honesty, connection, and courage. She reminds us that storytelling isn’t just a tool—it’s a lifeline.
