Author Event: Sarah Weinman, "Evidence of Things Seen"

True crime fans!  Darien Library, along with Barrett Bookstore, welcome award-winning author, Sarah Weinman, in discussion of her book that showcases the future of the true crime genre. True crime, as an entertainment genre, has always prioritized clear narrative arcs: victims wronged, police detectives in pursuit, suspects apprehended, justice delivered. But what stories have been ignored?

In Evidence of Things Seen, fourteen of the most innovative crime writers working today cast a light on the cases that give crucial insight into our society. Wesley Lowery writes about a lynching left unsolved for decades by an indifferent police force and a family’s quest for answers. Justine van der Leun reports on the thousands of women in prison for defending themselves from abuse. May Jeong reveals how the Atlanta spa shootings tell a story of America. 

Edited by acclaimed writer Sarah Weinman, and with an introduction by attorney and host of the Undisclosed podcast, Rabia Chaudry, this anthology pulls back the curtain on how crime itself is a by-product of America’s systemic harms and inequalities. And in doing so, it reveals how the genre of true crime can be a catalyst for social change. These works combine brilliant storytelling with incisive cultural examinations—and challenge each of us to ask what justice should look like. Evidence of Things Seen introduces the new classics of true crime.

About the Author

Sarah Weinman is the author of Scoundrel and The Real Lolita, and the editor, most recently, of Unspeakable Acts: True Tales of Crime, Murder, Deceit & Obsession. She was a 2020 National Magazine Award finalist for reporting and a Calderwood Journalism Fellow at MacDowell. Her work has appeared in New York magazine, The Wall Street Journal, Vanity Fair, and The Washington Post. Weinman writes the crime column for The New York Times Book Review and lives in New York City and Northampton, Massachusetts.