I am You

At eight years old, Gerta Pieters is forced to disguise herself as a boy and sent to work for a well to do family. When their daughter Maria discovers her secret, she insists that Gerta accompany her to Amsterdam, where Maria is determined to make her way in the elite, male-dominated art world. As Maria’s reputation as a painter grows, Gerta becomes indispensable to her, as confidante, muse and lover. But when Gerta begins to discover her own talents, intimacy gives way to rivalry and obsession, and the secrets they share threaten to unravel everything they have built together.

Exploring gender, artistic creation and the complicated relationship between love and ambition, I Am You brings the world of 17th-century Amsterdam vividly to life.

Victoria Redel is an American poet and novelist whose work has been widely published, awarded and translated into ten languages. Her debut novel, Loverboy, was adapted into a feature film directed by Kevin Bacon. Her fiction, poetry and essays have appeared in publications including Granta, The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, BOMB, One Story, Salmagundi, O and NOON.

She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the Fine Arts Work Center, and is a professor of Creative Writing at Sarah Lawrence College.

Victoria will be in conversation with acclaimed author Elizabeth Fremantle. Her published works include Queen's Gambit, The Girl in the Glass Tower and the critically acclaimed thriller The Poison Bed, and Disobedient