River Forest Reads: A Portrayal of Zelda Fitzgerald

This program is part of River Forest Reads, a shared reading experience for members of the community to read and discuss the same book. In honor of its 100th anniversary, F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby is our River Forest Reads pick for 2025. Whether you're revisiting this American classic or coming to it for the first time, we encourage everyone to read the book together and attend a series of related programs. Copies of the book will be available for checkout starting September 8, and programming continues through October 19. 

Storyteller and author Lynn Rymarz, known for her first-person portrayals of historical women, joins us to perform as Zelda Fitzgerald — the wife of Great Gatsby author F. Scott Fitzgerald and an enduring symbol of "flapper" culture among Jazz Age women. Hear about their love story, how they rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous, and how Zelda haunted her husband's famous fiction. Discover how she found a passion in dancing, her notoriety as “The First Flapper,” and her own work as an accomplished writer and painter.

Brought to you in partnership with River Forest Township.