Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures presents Fredrik Backman in conversation with Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh President and Director Mary Frances Cooper.

Fredrik Backman is well known in book club circles as the #1 New York Times bestselling author of A Man Called Ove. Backman comes to Pittsburgh from his native Sweden with a brand new novel Us Against You, a follow up to Beartown. In this story of a small forest town, Fredrik Backman has found the entire world.

Beartown is home to tough, hardworking people who don’t expect life to be easy or fair. No matter how difficult times get, they’ve always been able to take pride in their local ice hockey team. So it’s a cruel blow when they hear that Beartown ice hockey might soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in the neighboring town of Hed, take in that fact. As the tension mounts between the two adversaries, a newcomer arrives who gives Beartown hockey a surprising new coach and a chance at a comeback.

Here is a declaration of love for all the big and small, bright and dark stories that give form and color to our communities. With immense compassion and insight, Fredrik Backman reveals how loyalty, friendship, and kindness can carry a town through its most challenging days.