Imbolo Mbue will launch her new novel, Every Story Is a Love Story, at The Center for Fiction in Brooklyn on October 7, 2026, in conversation with National Book Award winner Jacqueline Woodson. The event starts at 7:00 pm EDT and will also be livestreamed for those joining remotely.

Every Story Is a Love Story follows Wolo, whose pregnant wife is killed in a car accident. Three years later, he’s slowly rebuilt a version of a life — work, a small circle of friends, his grief softened just enough to function — when a letter arrives from Victoria, the woman who was driving the car that day. Against the warnings of his family and his pastor, Wolo agrees to meet her, and her remorse and compassion unsettle the fragile peace he’s made with his loss. The novel asks what people owe to those who’ve hurt them, whether anyone is defined by their worst moment, and whether forgiveness can actually ease suffering rather than just paper over it.

The book marks Mbue’s third novel, following her PEN/Faulkner Award-winning, Oprah’s Book Club-selected debut Behold the Dreamers and How Beautiful We Were, which the New York Times named one of the ten best books of 2021. Born in Limbe, Cameroon, Mbue now lives in New York, and Every Story Is a Love Story is published by Random House.

Mbue will be in conversation with Jacqueline Woodson, the 2023–2025 New York State Author Laureate, former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, and author of the National Book Award-winning memoir Brown Girl Dreaming, among numerous other honors including a MacArthur Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a 2026 induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Mbue will sign books following the conversation.

Tickets are available now through The Center for Fiction, with in-person and livestream options, both offered with or without a copy of the book included.