Join us for the launch of Eugene Yelchin’s graphic memoir I Wish I Didn’t Have to Tell You This, the book which shines a stark spotlight on history while offering a poignant, nuanced, and powerfully resonant look at becoming an artist in—and ultimately leaving—Cold War Russia in the early 1980s. You will watch a short film composed from the book’s graphic panels and voiced live by a group of actors. The screening will be followed by the conversation with the author and the Q&A with the audience. Eugene Yelchin is a writer and illustrator of books for young readers.

Yelchin is a National Book Award finalist for The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge, co-authored with M. T. Anderson, and the recipient of Newbery Honor for Breaking Stalin’s Nose. He received Sydney Taylor Award for The Genius Under the Table, Golden Kite Award for The Haunting of Falcon House, Crystal Kite Award for illustrating Won Ton, National Jewish Book Award for illustrating The Rooster Prince of Breslov, and Tomie DePaola Award from the Society of Children Books Writers and Illustrators. His books were named Best Books of the Year by the New York Times, People Magazine, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Amazon, NPR, Publishers Weekly, etc., and were translated in fourteen languages. His new graphic memoir, I Wish I Didn’t Have to Tell You This, will be released in September 2025. For more information, please visit eugeneyelchin.com