Francesca Wade: Gertrude Stein

Join Author, Francesca Wade, in conversation with Brigitta Olubas, to talk about her book Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife, in-store at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore.

WHEN: Tuesday, 17th February 2026, at Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore.

Please arrive when doors open at 6:45pm for a 7pm start. The event concludes at 8 30pm.

TICKETS: 

Single Ticket: 1 x Admission + 1 x Book: $50.00 (excluding external fees), includes admission for one, a copy of Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife (RRP: $39.99), a glass of wine and nibbles upon arrival.

Double Pass: 2 x Admission + 1 x Book: $70.00 (excluding external fees), includes admission for two, one copy of Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife (RRP: $39.99), a glass of wine and nibbles upon arrival.

From the author of the critically acclaimed Square Haunting comesa biography as unconventional and surprising as the life it tells.

About Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife
'Think of the Bible and Homer, think of Shakespeare and think of me,' wrote Gertrude Stein in 1936. Admirers called her a genius, sceptics a charlatan: she remains one of the most confounding - and contested - writers of the twentieth century.

In this literary detective story, Francesca Wade delves into the creation of the Stein myth. We see her posing for Picasso's portrait; at the centre of Bohemian Parisian life hosting the likes of Matisse and Hemingway; racing through the French countryside with her enigmatic companion Alice B. Toklas; dazzling American crowds on her sell-out tour for her sensational Autobiography - a veritable celebrity.

Yet Stein hoped to be remembered not for her personality but for her work. From her deathbed, she charged her partner with securing her place in literary history. How would her legend shift once it was Toklas's turn to tell the stories - especially when uncomfortable aspects of their past emerged from the archive? Using astonishing never-before-seen material, Wade uncovers the origins of Stein's radical writing, and reveals new depths to the storied relationship which made it possible.

This is Gertrude Stein as she was when nobody was watching: captivating, complex and human.

'Thrillingly intelligent and original . . . A breakthrough in biographical form.' - Edmund Gordon

About the Author: Francesca Wade

Francesca Wade is the author of Square Haunting: Five Women, Freedom and London Between the Wars (2020), which was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and shortlisted for the RSL Ondaatje Prize. She has received fellowships from the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center at the New York Public Library, the Leon Levy Center for Biography and the Harvard Radcliffe Institute, and her work has appeared in The New York Review of Books, London Review of Books, Granta and other places. She lives in London.

About the host: Brigitta Olubas

Brigitta Olubas is Professor of English in the School of the Arts and Media UNSW. Her Shirley Hazzard: A Writing Life (2022)was shortlisted for the National Biography Award, the Prime Minister's Literary Award for Nonfiction; the Magarey Medal for Biography, and the Nib Nonfiction Award.

About Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore

Rated as one of the top 10 bookstores in the world by National Geographic, Gertrude & Alice Cafe Bookstore is an oasis for writers, readers, and coffee lovers. Books overflow from the shelves of their store, featuring a mix of new, second-hand, antiquarian and rare books. Stay a while & enjoy some homemade chai, and amazing coffee, and unearth a book treasure or two. Read more about the bookstore's story here, and about the real Gertrude & Alice here.