MIT Literature Section presents, Author Talk & Live Musical Performance with Ling Ling Huang

Reception: Hayden Library Courtyard @ 5:00 – 5:30 PM Author Talk & Live Musical Performance: Killian Hall (14S-111) @ 5:30 PM

Can literature teach empathy? And how much empathy is too much?

Join award-winning author Ling Ling Huang for a live conversation on Immaculate Conception.

Moderated by Prof. Sandy Alexandre (Literature), with insights from Prof. Rebecca Saxe (Cognitive Neuroscience).

Together, they’ll explore empathy in fiction: its power, its limits, and what science can tell us about it.

Music will be part of the experience.

See you there. Looking forward to your questions for the Q&A period after the conversation.

Ling Ling Huang is a writer and violinist. She plays with several ensembles, including the Oregon Symphony, Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra, ProMusica Chamber Orchestra, and the Experiential Orchestra, with whom she won a Grammy Award in 2021. Her debut novel, Natural Beauty, was a Good Morning America Buzz Pick, a New York Times Editors’ Choice, and a winner of the Lambda Literary Award for Bisexual Fiction. Her second novel, Immaculate Conception, was published in May 2025.