Hachette Books is happy to announce the first in its new Authors & Editors series of virtual events. We're bringing together some of our favorite authors in conversation with their editors to discuss their books and how they took shape. This free event is available to anyone who registers, no purchase required.

Join Olga Khazan, author of Weird: The Power of Being an Outsider in an Insider World, and Brant Rumble, executive editor at Hachette Books, for a conversation about Weird, the research process and experiences that informed it, and what it's like to be a health and science reporter during a pandemic.

In the tradition of Susan Cain’s Quiet and Scott Stossel’s My Age of Anxiety, Atlantic staff writer Olga Khazan reclaims the concept of “weird” and turns it into a badge of honor rather than a slur, showing how being different — culturally, socially, physically, or mentally — can actually be a person’s greatest strength. Combining Khazan’s own story with those of others and with fascinating takeaways from cutting-edge psychology research, Weird reveals how successful individuals learned to embrace their weirdness, using it to their advantage.

Olga Khazan is an award-winning writer for The Atlantic, covering health, gender, and science. Prior to that, she was The Atlantic‘sGlobal Editor. She has also written for the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, Forbes, and other publications. She is a two-time recipient of the International Reporting Project’s Journalism Fellowship, winner of the 2017 National Headliner Awards for Magazine Online Writing, and host of The Atlantic‘s online video series, You Are Here: The Incredible Science Behind Everyday Life.

Brant Rumble joined Hachette Books in May 2018. He was previously at Blue Rider Press for several years, and at Scribner for a number of years before that. Brant has worked on a variety of narrative nonfiction, ranging from memoir to biography to history to humor to cultural criticism to sociological study to investigative journalism. His early editorial discoveries included Chuck Klosterman’s generational classics, Fargo Rock City and Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs. At Hachette Books, Brant’s titles have included Ron Rapoport’s biography of Ernie Banks, Let’s Play Two; Dale Berra’s memoir, My Dad, Yogi; Erin Carlson’s tribute to Meryl Streep, Queen Meryl; Kevin Robbins’s The Last Stand of Payne Stewart; Pete Townshend’s novel, The Age of Anxiety; and Julie Andrews’s second memoir, Home Work.

Authors & Editors: Olga Khazan & Brant Rumble, Weird