(PRINCETON, NJ) -- April 2025 marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of "The Great Gatsby," and Princeton University Library (PUL) is celebrating with a suite of on- and off-campus programming inspired by the library's significant Fitzgerald and "The Great Gatsby" related holdings, including the F. Scott Fitzgerald Papers, which were donated to the University by his daughter in 1950.
Programming includes collaborations and events with Princeton Public Library, Lewis Center for the Arts, Cotsen Children’s Library, Friends of Princeton University Library, Labyrinth Books, Princeton Garden Theatre, and the Arts Council of Princeton.
A digital exhibition, “Gatsby at 100: The Author and His Creation,” is now available on Digital PUL. An exhibition of large-scale reproductions, “Living Forever: The Archive of the Great Gatsby,” will feature a variety of items that trace the creation, reception, and impact of “The Great Gatsby” around the world.
A full list of programming is available below. Most of the planned programs are free and open to the public, with a few requiring registration and/or tickets.
It may be hard to believe, but when “The Great Gatsby” by F. Scott Fitzgerald was first published in April 1925, it was not an immediate bestseller. It took another almost two decades⸺during World War II with the Armed Services edition⸺for the novel to find success and, ultimately, take its place among the “great American novels.”
Events
March 20, 2025 - All Access Book Club “The Chosen and the Beautiful,” by Nghi Vo. Co-hosted with the Princeton Public Library Registration required
March 31, 2025 - “When Pages Breathe: The Greatness of Gatsby”. Co-hosted with Lewis Center for the Arts; Chancellor Green Rotunda, Princeton University
April 3, 2025 - Literature to Life: Performing Gatsby; Drapkin Theater Studio, Lewis Center for the Arts, Princeton University
April 7, 2025 - “The Great Gatsby” Community Filibuster Read-Aloud; Princeton Public Library
April 8, 2025 - Author Visit with Nghi Vo “Don’t Sleep with the Dead” Book Launch; Princeton Public Library. Registration required
April 9, 2025 - “The Great Gatsby” viewing (2013); Princeton Garden Theatre, 160 Nassau Street. Ticket purchase required
April 10, 2025 - PUL Crafternoon: Roaring 20s Headband; Firestone Library, Discovery Hub. Registration required (For Princeton University Students, Faculty, and Staff only)
April 22, 2025 - Raconteur Radio performance of “The Great Gatsby”; Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street. Registration required
April 26, 2025 - The Great “Catsby”; Cotsen Children’s Library, Firestone Library
April 27, 2025 - Friends of Princeton University Library Annual Dinner with Maureen Corrigan, author of “So We Read On: How The Great Gatsby Came to Be and Why It Endures”. The Nassau Club ($125 per person, email [email protected] for more information)
April 28, 2025 - “What’s So Great About ‘The Great Gatsby’?”. Panel Discussion featuring Maureen Corrigan and Anne Margaret Daniel, editor of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s I’d Die for You and Other Lost Stories (2017) and the Norton Library edition of The Great Gatsby (2022); moderated by Alfred Bendixen, Lecturer in Gender and Sexuality Studies. Co-hosted with Labyrinth Books; Labyrinth Books, 122 Nassau Street
May 2, 2025 - After-hours Speakeasy, featuring The Glenn Crytzer Quartet; Princeton Public Library, 65 Witherspoon Street
Exhibitions
Gatsby at 100: The Author and His Creation digital exhibition(Link is external) (Link opens in new window) (Digital PUL)
Opening March 2025 - Arts Council Spring Street mural (Spring Street, Downtown Princeton)
Opening April 2025 - Living Forever: The Archive of the Great Gatsby exhibition (Tiger Tea Room, Firestone Library)
