Cambridge Common Writers

MOTHERS, A Virtual Reading of New Works
2021-05-23 17:00 - 18:00 (America/New_York) | Online Event
A Reading of New Works… in honor of mothers everywhere. Featuring works from:

“A Lovely Day Outside” by Rhiannon Ciara Vaughn (WSS, January 2019)

“Leftovers” by Sarah Hunter

“You’ve Got to Keep Mother Alive” by Vance Walker

“Counterpoint” by Hortense Gerardo

“Crusades” by John Mabey

“Mom’s Recipes” by Ken Levine

CCW Debut Book Launch for Clarissa Adkins and Poetry Open Mic
2021-05-23 19:00 - 20:00 | Online Zoom Event
CCW book launch, featuring Clarissa Adkins (Poetry, June 2018) author of Building Alexandria (Lily Poetry Review, 2021).

Join on Sunday, May 23, 2021 at 7:00 pm Eastern to hear Clarissa read from her book and for you to share your poetry. After Clarissa’s reading there will be time for an open-mic for those who are interested.

K-pop in YA panel -- Axie Oh
2021-05-28 19:00 - 20:00 | YouTube
Featuring: Kat Cho, Axie Oh (WFYP, June 2017), Lyla Lee, Stephan Lee, Maurene Goo

A BTS look at the Blood, Sweat, and Tears that goes into creating the DNA of a K-Pop Young Adult book. From the bright lights of the stage to the sweet bloom of first love, these authors write it all amid the backdrop of the Hallyu wave.

The Shores of Self: Creativity and Complex Narratives in Diasporic Communities
2021-06-02 18:30 - 19:30 | Online Zoom Event
The Faraday Publishing Company will be hosting their first event of the year, “The Shores of Self: Creativity and Complex Narratives in Diasporic Communities”, on Wednesday, June 2 at 6:30pm EDT. They will be joined by writers and scholars: Alyss Dixson, Tony Medina, Lisa Pegram (Poetry, June 2012), and Craig Santos Perez.

This panel discussion, which will be moderated by Enzo Silon Surin (Poetry, 2012), has been convened due to the number of incidents of anti-Black and anti-Asian/Pacific Islander violence in America, which have been an all-too-frequent refrain in headlines for the past few years. The realities of Black and Asian and Pacific Islander communities are complex and dynamic, and our panel of world-class writers and scholars will be sharing their work and insights to “trouble” (as Paisley Rekdal says in Appropriate: A Provocation) the ways these communities are portrayed in the media.

Voices Amidst the Virus Reading
2021-06-08 19:00 - 20:00 | Online Zoom Event
Please join Cambridge Commons Writers for a night of poetry featuring pieces published recently in Voices Amidst the Virus by Lily Poetry Press, edited by Lesley graduates Eileen Cleary (Poetry, June 2016) and Christine Jones (Poetry, January 2014). Fellow poetry Lesley alums Suzanne Edison (July 2016), Cindy Hunter Morgan, Jon Lee (January 2017), Robert Gamble (January 2017), Anne Riesenberg (Nonfiction), Michael Mercurio (January 2017), Frances Donovan (June 2019), and MFA Writing Faculty Steven Cramer and Kevin Prufer will read a selection of poems inspired by their experiences of isolation, lock-down, and re-entry in this time of Covid. We will also play film clips from MSU’s Filmretry Festival based on the anthology’s text.

Virtual Event: Chaney Kwak in conversation with Daniel Handler
2021-06-08 21:00 - 23:00 | Online Zoom Event
Chaney Kwak (Fiction, June 2009) appears in conversation with the legendary Daniel Handler (aka Lemony Snicket) to discuss The Passenger at Green Apple Books in San Francisco. Handler is the author of seven novels, including Bottle Grove.In March 2019, the Viking Sky cruise ship was struck by a bomb cyclone in the Arctic Sea. Rocked by 60-foot swells and 87-mile-per-hour gales, the ship lost power and began to drift straight toward the notoriously dangerous Hustadvika coast in Norway. The Passenger: How a Travel Writer Learned to Love Cruises & Other Lies from a Sinking Ship is the suspenseful, harrowing, funny, touching story by one passenger who contemplated death aboard that ship. The Passenger takes readers for an unforgettable journey from the Norwegian coast to the South China Sea, from post-WWII Korea to pandemic-struck San Francisco. Kwak weaves his personal experience into events spanning decades and continents to explore the serendipity and relationships that move humans. Chaney Kwak has been traversing the globe for more than a decade to write about food and travel. His work appears regularly in newspapers such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, as well as magazines such as Afar, Condé Nast Traveler, and Travel + Leisure. Mr. Kwak teaches nonfiction writing at the Stanford Continuing Studies program and lives in San Francisco.Daniel Handler is the author of seven novels, including Why We Broke Up, We Are Pirates, All The Dirty Parts and, most recently, Bottle Grove. As Lemony Snicket, he is responsible for numerous books for children, including the thirteen-volume A Series of Unfortunate Events, the four-volume All the Wrong Questions, and The Dark, which won the Charlotte Zolotow Award. His books have sold more than 70 million copies and have been translated into 40 languages, and have been adapted for film, stage and television, including the recent adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events for which he was awarded both the Peabody and the Writers Guild of America awards.

Chaney Kwak in conversation with Lori Ostlund
2021-06-10 20:00 - 21:00 | Online Event
Chaney Kwak (Fiction, June 2009) appears in conversation (virtually) with Lori Ostlund to discuss The Passenger hosted by Magers & Quinn Booksellers in Minneapolis.In a starred review, Foreword Reviews writes, “The Passenger, with its bare-bones honesty and dry, cynical humor, reveals that when all is said and done, it’s the little things that matter: small acts of courage and kindness, words of love, and gratitude for the gift of another day.”In March 2019, the Viking Sky cruise ship was struck by a bomb cyclone in the Arctic Sea. Rocked by 60-foot swells and 87-mile-per-hour gales, the ship lost power and began to drift straight toward the notoriously dangerous Hustadvika coast in Norway. The Passenger: How a Travel Writer Learned to Love Cruises & Other Lies from a Sinking Ship is the suspenseful, harrowing, funny, touching story by one passenger who contemplated death aboard that ship.Chaney Kwak has been traversing the globe for more than a decade to write about food and travel. His work appears regularly in newspapers such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, as well as magazines such as Afar, Condé Nast Traveler, and Travel + Leisure. Mr. Kwak teaches nonfiction writing at the Stanford Continuing Studies program and lives in San Francisco.

Lesley MFA Evening Reading Series - Michael Lowenthal (Fiction) and Celeste Mohammed (Fiction)
2021-06-18 18:00 - 19:30 | Online Zoom Event

Virtual Event: Chaney Kwak in conversation with Nathan Hake
2021-06-18 20:30 - 23:30 | Online Event
Chaney Kwak (Fiction, June 2009) appears in conversation with travel writer Nathan Hake to discuss The Passenger at Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver.In March 2019, the Viking Sky cruise ship was struck by a bomb cyclone in the Arctic Sea. Rocked by 60-foot swells and 87-mile-per-hour gales, the ship lost power and began to drift straight toward the notoriously dangerous Hustadvika coast in Norway. The Passenger: How a Travel Writer Learned to Love Cruises & Other Lies from a Sinking Ship is the suspenseful, harrowing, funny, touching story by one passenger who contemplated death aboard that ship. The Passenger takes readers for an unforgettable journey from the Norwegian coast to the South China Sea, from post-WWII Korea to pandemic-struck San Francisco. Kwak weaves his personal experience into events spanning decades and continents to explore the serendipity and relationships that move humans.Chaney Kwak has been traversing the globe for more than a decade to write about food and travel. His work appears regularly in newspapers such as The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal, as well as magazines such as Afar, Condé Nast Traveler, and Travel + Leisure. Mr. Kwak teaches nonfiction writing at the Stanford Continuing Studies program and lives in San Francisco.Originally from Denver, Colorado, Nathan Hake is a recovering corporate lawyer turned travel blogger, digital nomad, and entrepreneur. His travel blog, TravelLemming.com, focuses on promoting emerging destinations around the world as a solution to the problem of overtourism. He also founded a small B2B software company, Collection Harbor, and has done some freelance writing work along the way.

Lesley MFA Evening Reading Series - Pam Petro (Nonfiction) and Kevin Prufer (Poetry)
2021-06-20 18:30 - 20:00 | Online Zoom Event

Lesley MFA Evening Reading Series - Sara Farizan (WFYP) and Kate Snodgrass (WSS)
2021-06-21 18:30 - 20:00 | Online Zoom Event

Virtual Author Visit: Lori M. Lee with Axie Oh
2021-06-23 20:00 - 21:00 | Online Event
Author Lori M. Lee introduces the second book in her Shamanborn series, BROKEN WEB! Joined by fellow YA author Axie Oh (WFYP, June 2017), this is going to be an event you don’t want to miss! Order the first book in Lori’s series, FOREST OF SOULS from Mystery to Me, and place your pre-order for Axie’s XOXO, coming in July!

About Broken Web

The Soulless is free from his centuries-long imprisonment. Now, he lurks in the Dead Wood recovering his strength, while Sirscha and her allies journey east to the shaman empire of Nuvalyn. Everyone believes she is a soulguide–a savior–but Sirscha knows the truth. She’s a monster, a soulrender like the Soulless, and if anyone discovers the truth, she’ll be executed. But there’s nothing Sirscha won’t risk to stop the shaman responsible for the rot that’s killing her best friend. While the Soulless is formidable, like all shamans, his magic must be channeled through a familiar. If Sirscha can discover what–or who–that is, she might be able to cut him off from his power. With Queen Meilyr bent on destroying the magical kingdoms, Sirscha finds herself caught between a war brewing in the east and the Soulless waiting in the west. She should be trying to unite what peoples she can to face their common enemies, but instead, her hunt for clues about the Soulless leads to a grim discovery, forcing Sirscha to question who her enemies really are.

Cambridge Common Writers Alumni Reading
2021-06-23 20:00 - 21:00 | Online Zoom Event
Join us for an evening of reading and celebration with our CCW community. Open to current students and members of the public.

Featured Readers:

Nada Samih-Rotondo (Fiction, June 2012)Diane Griffin (Nonfiction, January 2018)Kate Kearns (Poetry, June 2008)Patty Pearson (WFYP, June 2015)Wendy Ewan (WSS, June 2018)

Chaney Kwak in conversation with Paul Lisicky
2021-06-30 19:30 - 20:30 | Online Event
Debut author Chaney Kwak (Fiction, June 2009) appears in conversation with award-winning author Paul Lisicky to discuss The Passenger at Greenlight in Brooklyn. Lisicky is the author of six books including Later: My Life at the Edge of the World, one of NPR’S Best Books of 2020.

In a starred review, Foreword Reviews writes “The Passenger, with its bare-bones honesty and dry, cynical humor, reveals that when all is said and done, it’s the little things that matter: small acts of courage and kindness, words of love, and gratitude for the gift of another day.”

Shakirah Bourne presents Josephine Against the Sea: In conversation with Tracey Baptiste
2021-07-06 18:00 - 19:00 | Online Zoom Event
Bajan author and filmmaker Shakirah Bourne joins Greenlight (virtually!) to launch her debut middle grade novel, Josephine Against the Sea, a magical, heartfelt adventure inspired by Caribbean mythology!Eleven-year-old Josephine knows that no one is good enough for her daddy. That’s why she makes a habit of scaring his new girlfriends away. She’s desperate to make it onto her school’s cricket team because she’ll get to play her favorite sport and use the cricket matches to distract Daddy from dating. But when Coach Broomes announces that girls can’t try out for the team, the frustrated Josephine cuts into a powerful silk cotton tree and accidentally summons a bigger problem into her life. Can Josephine convince her friends to help her and use her cricket skills to save Daddy from the clutches of his new girlfriend, a vengeful sea creature, before it’s too late?

Tracey Baptiste (WFYP, MFA Writing Faculty), bestselling author of the creepy Caribbean series The Jumbies and several other books, joins Bourne in conversation at this magical virtual book launch!

What The Universe Is: Rob Arnold, Lisa Pegram, Robbie Gamble
2021-07-08 20:00 - 21:00 | Online Zoom
ROB ARNOLD is a Chamoru poet whose work has appeared in Ploughshares, Hyphen, Gettysburg Review, Poetry Northwest, RED INK, Yes Poetry, The Ocean State Review, Peripheries, and The Volta, among others. His poems have been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and have received support from the Somerville Arts Council, the Jack Straw Cultural Center, and Artist Trust. Rob has two decades of experience in literary publishing and related positions, most recently as an agent with Aevitas Creative Management and as events curator for Hugo House. Previously, he co-founded the online journal Memorious, and worked with Ploughshares, Fence, Beacon Press, PEN New England, The National Poetry Series, and Grid Books. He lives in Seattle, where he is writing a manuscript that explores indigeneity through violence and survival, divisions of self and fragmentations of family.LISA PEGRAM, MFA (Poetry, June 2012), is a Washington, DC native writer, educator, literary publicist and acquisitions editor. Author of Cracked Calabash (Central Square Press) and winner of the DC Mayor’s Arts Award, her work has been published in anthologies by Random House and Black Classic Press, and magazines such as L’Officiel and Atlas Obscura. Lisa was DC WritersCorps program director for a decade and has over 20 years of experience in literary program design for such organizations as the Smithsonian Institute, Corcoran Gallery of Art and National Geographic. In 2018, she completed an Executive Certification in Arts & Culture Strategies from UPenn. She is currently based on the Caribbean island of St. Martin.ROBBIE GAMBLE (Poetry/Nonfiction, January 2017/June 2020) (he/him) received an MFA in Creative Writing from Lesley University. His poems and essays have appeared in the Atlanta Review, Cutthroat, Poet Lore, RHINO, Rust + Moth, and Tahoma Literary Review, among others. He was the winner of the 2017 Carve Poetry prize, and was a 2019 Peter Taylor Fellow at the Kenyon Sumer Writers Workshop. Robbie is the Associate Poetry Editor at Solstice: A Magazine of Diverse Voices. He worked for many years as a nurse practitioner at Boston Healthcare for the Homeless Program, and now divides his time between Boston and Vermont.

Virtual Launch with Nisha Sharma and Axie Oh
2021-07-13 18:00 - 19:00 | Online Event
Celebrate the releases of Nisha Sharma’s Radha & Jai’s Recipe for Romance and Axie Oh’s (WFYP, June 2017) XOXO in conversation with Ayman Chaudry hosted by Books of Wonder. There will be a Q&A portion with the audience.

Blurred Lines Writing Workshop with Novuyo Masakhane and Leah Young
2021-07-17 00:00 - 2021-07-18 23:59 | Online Event
A 2-day generative writing workshop with teachers Novuyo Masakhane (Fiction, January 2021) and Leah Young (Nonfiction, January 2018). July 17-18 from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. each day.

Day 1 Saturday:

We will focus on comparing and contrasting craft elements of fiction and creative non-fiction, such as: voice, setting, character and inspiration. Participants will work with a variety of writing prompts. There will be discussion of writing process and time for Q&A.

Day 2 Sunday:

We will pivot to projects in development and new writing, working with writing prompts, discussion and Q&A.

NOTE: Enrolled participants will receive their unique link to the online event the day before the workshop.

About the Presenters:

Novuyo Masakhane MFA s an interdisciplinary artist: writer, dancer/choreographer, filmmaker, and educator. Masakhane is a graduate of Lesley University’s creative writing program. She’s the founder and producer of String of Pearls Creative Writing Salon. Last but surely not least, Novuyo is mother and grandma, and makes her home in Santa Monica, California. She’s currently working on her novel, ‘House of Jewels’ and a short story collection. Her work appears in the Milvia Street Art and Literary Journal.

Leah Young MFA teaches English Rhetoric & Composition at College of Southern Nevada, is a visual artist and published author. She is the founder and director of The Art of Women Foundation and owner of Powher Books. Leah created and taught an online blogging course for beginners and The Creative Fire writing workshop. Leah is also a graduate of Lesley University’s creative writing program. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Powher Books LIVE with Celeste Mohammed
2021-07-20 16:00 - 17:00 | Online Event
Join Powher Books (founded by Nonfiction alum Leah Young) and Celeste Mohammed (Fiction, June 2016) for a discussion of Celeste’s debut novel, Pleasantview, along with guest author panelists Suzanne Edison (Poetry, June 2016), and Benjamin Roesch (Fiction, January 2016).

Celeste has been a lawyer since 2001 but she has been telling stories all her life. A native of Trinidad and Tobago, in 2016, she graduated from Lesley University with an MFA in Creative Writing. Celeste’s goal is to dispel all myths about island-life and island-people, and to highlight the points of intersection between Caribbean and North American interests. In particular, she aims to showcase Trinidad’s entrenched political, racial, and class alliances; the generosity (and yet, cruelty) of the average Trini; the sense of optimism (and yet, harsh reality) which permeates everyday interaction; and the musicality and resonance of Caribbean creole (kriol) expression. She currently resides in Trinidad with her family.

Powher Books Live with Tavi Taylor Black
2021-08-03 17:00 - 18:00 | Online
Join Lesley MFA alum-founded Powher Books for a conversation about her work.

Tavi Taylor Black (Fiction, June 2008) lives on an island near Seattle where she designs sets for the Vashon Dance Academy, works as the tour manager for Deva Premal & Miten with Manose (a musical mantra group), and was the founding director of the Dove Project, an anti-domestic violence non-profit organization. Before earning an MFA from Lesley University, Tavi spent 14 years touring with rock bands. Her work has been published in Literary Mama, The Zodiac Review, and is forthcoming in Levee Magazine.

Book Launch with Andrea Wang in Convo w/ Debbi Michiko Florence
2021-08-17 20:00 - 21:00 | Online Event
Celebrate the launch of THE MANY MEANINGS OF MEILAN with award-winning author Andrea Wang (WFYP, June 2011), in conversation with Debbi Michiko Florence who is celebrating the release of JUST BE COOL, JENNA SAKAI. Copies of Debbi’s books are not able to be personalized at this time. Only Andrea’s MG novel will offer personalization.

Andrea Wang is the award-winning author of the picture books The Nian Monster, Magic Ramen, and Watercress. The Many Meanings of Meilan is her debut middle-grade novel. The first character in Andrea’s Chinese name is an archaic one that means fragrant, but her parents’ friends all thought it was the character for jade, which sounds exactly the same. That sparked her lifelong interest in names and identity. She’d much rather be a rock than smelly. Andrea likes to write about family, food, and culture. She spent her childhood in Ohio and Boston and now lives in Colorado with her family.

Debbi Michiko Florence is the author of middle grade novels Just Be Cool, Jenna Sakai, which received a starred review from Kirkus, Keep It Together, Keiko Carter, a New England Book Award finalist; and the Jasmine Toguchi chapter books. A third-generation Japanese American and native Californian, Debbi lives in Connecticut with her husband, rescue dog, rabbit, and duck. Visit her online at debbimichikoflorence.com.

The Long Field: A Memoir of Wales and the Presence of Absence--author talk with Pamela Petro
2021-08-18 17:00 - 18:00 | Online Zoom Event
The Long Field burrows deep into the Welsh countryside to tell how this small country became a big part of an American writer’s life. Petro twines her story around that of Wales by viewing both through the lens of hiraeth, a Welsh word that’s famously hard to translate, deriving from an old usage meaning ‘long field’, but is also the name for the bone-deep longing for something or someone – a home, culture, language, or a younger self. The Long Field braids memoir with the essential hiraeth stories of Wales, and in doing so creates a radical new vision of place and belonging.

Pamela Petro (Nonfiction, MFA Writing Faculty) is a writer, artist, and educator. She works in both research nonfiction and memoir—often braiding the two together—and as a visual artist works with experimental forms of photography. In addition to the MFA, she teaches creative writing at Smith College and is the Director of the Dylan Thomas Summer School at the University of Wales, Trinity St David. Her essays have been published in Lumina, The Paris Review, Granta, Slab, and Harvard Review Online.

Writers’ Room of Boston Reading Series: Featuring Amy Yelin
2021-09-09 19:00 - 19:30 | Online
Join the Writers’ Room of Boston to welcome Robin Lippincott and Amy Yelin (Nonfiction, June 2005) for the next event in their reading series. This event is free and open to all, hosted on Crowdcast.

Amy Yelin is a versatile wordsmith whose articles, essays and author interviews have appeared in Salon.com, The Boston Globe, The Boston Globe Magazine, Brainchild, The Gettysburg Review, The Missouri Review, The Writer’s Chronicle, Literary Mama, The ManifestStation, and other publications. Her awards and recognitions include a Pushcart nomination for “The Memoirist” (Lunch Ticket), a Best of the Net nomination for “Taboo” (Pithead Chapel), and a Best American Essays notable mention for “Torn” (The Baltimore Review).

Amy earned her MFA in creative writing at Lesley University, where upon graduation she mentored students for several years as part of the program’s interdisciplinary component. She occasionally teaches for Grub Street in Boston and most recently she was also awarded a fellowship to The Writers’ Room in Boston. She is currently working on a memoir titled, A Stranger There.

The Poets Corner: The Red Thread with Andrea Ballou Read and Anne Riesenberg
2021-09-12 16:00 - 17:30 | Online Zoom Event
Join The Poets Corner to hear poetry from four women’s voices.

Megan Grumbling will be reading from Persephone in the Late Anthropocene, along with:

Andrea Ballou Read (Poetry, June 2015)Anne Riesenberg (Nonfiction)Abby Flanagan

Andrea Read’s poems have appeared most recently in Barrow Street, Black Rabbit Quarterly, Copper Nickel, FIELD, Ilanot Review, Plume, The Missouri Review, and Tupelo Quarterly. Andrea is the recipient of a National Resource Fellowship, a Tinker Foundation Grant, an Artist’s Fellowship from the Somerville Arts Council, as well as a Project Grant for a weekly poetry workshop for elders in Somerville. She serves on the board of the Somerville Arts Council and divides her time between Massachusetts and her home in Maine.

Anne Riesenberg is a writer, photographer and Five-Element acupuncturist living in Newcastle, Maine. Winner of Blue Mesa Review’s Nonfiction and Storm Cellar’s Force Majeure contests, her work can be found in Lily Poetry Review, Pleiades, Posit, Heavy Feather Review, The New Guard’s BANG!, The Maine Review and elsewhere. Current projects include a pair of books about harm and healing, and The Palace of Unbearable Feeling, a chapbook of visual poetry. She is a founding board member of Hewnoaks Artist Colony.

Virtual: Buki Papillon with Michael Lowenthal, An Ordinary Wonder
2021-09-14 19:00 - 20:00 | Online Event
Join Porter Square Books for a virtual event with local author Buki Papillon (Fiction, June 2007) for her debut novel, An Ordinary Wonder! Buki will be joined in conversation by Michael Lowenthal (Fiction, MFA Writing Faculty), author of the newly released story collection Sex with Strangers. This event is free and virtual, hosted on Crowdcast.

Buki Papillon was born in Nigeria, the oldest of six. After studying law at Hull University in the UK, she completed an MFA in Creative Writing at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She has received several fellowships and awards for her writing and is an alumnus of Key West Literary, Vermont Studio Centre and Vona Voices residencies and workshops. Her work was published in Post Road Magazine and the Del Sol Review. She has in the past been a travel adviser, events host and chef. Buki currently lives in Boston, where she is resigned to finding inspiration in the long winters.

Michael Lowenthal is the author of four novels: The Same Embrace, Avoidance, Charity Girl, and The Paternity Test. He lives in Boston.

Blue Desert Book Signing with Celia Jeffries
2021-09-18 11:00 - 14:00 | Joanne Rossman, 6 Birch Street, Roslindate, Massachusetts, 02131, United States
Celia Jeffries (Fiction/Nonfiction, 2008) will be signing copies of her debut novel, Blue Desert at Joanne Rossman in Roslindale, MA.

Filmspiration: A Generative Writing Workshop (with Movies!)
2021-09-29 19:00 - 20:00 | Online Event
Have a case of writers block? Looking for writing inspiration and don’t know where to find it? Join the Passengers Prose staff for a generative writing workshop that will use film clips as springboards. Hosted by Angelo D’Amato Jr (Fiction, June 2020).

Inspired by a True Story: A Brooklyn Book Festival panel featuring Saraciea J. Fennell
2021-10-03 11:00 - 12:00 | Center Stage (Columbus Park), Columbus Park, Brooklyn, New York, 11201, United States
Everyday lives and experiences feed into the creative force behind these powerful books, from exploring the Latinx diaspora through fifteen different voices and the trials and triumphs of growing up Black and queer, to the life of a Jamaican-American teen on the cusp of adulthood, a worldwide pandemic, and a tidal wave of social justice activism. Saraciea Fennell (WFYP, January 2020) (Wild Tongues Can’t Be Tamed), George M. Johnson (All Boys Aren’t Blue), and C. J. Farley (Zero O’Clock) discuss how real-life events can inspire moving, unforgettable storytelling. Moderated by David Levithan (Take Me With You When You Go).

Proof of vaccination is required for all author events

NBF Presents: An Afternoon with the National Book Awards: A Brooklyn Book Festival panel featuring Candice Iloh
2021-10-03 14:00 - 15:00 | Main Stage on Borough Hall Plaza, Columbus Park, Brooklyn, New York, 11201, United States
What do books that investigate bodies, Blackness, the judicial system, and the end of the world have in common? Join 2020 National Book Award–honored authors Rumaan Alam (Leave the World Behind, Finalist, Fiction), Lillian-Yvonne Bertram (Travesty Generator, Longlist, Poetry), Michelle Bowdler (Is Rape a Crime?: A Memoir, an Investigation, and a Manifesto, Longlist, Nonfiction), and Candice Iloh (WFYP, June 2017) (Every Body Looking, Finalist, Young People’s Literature) for a cross-genre conversation on the intersections of contemporary literature, recognition, and community—behind and beyond computer screens. Moderated by Ruth Dickey, Executive Director of the National Book Foundation.

Pamela Petro & Jane Brox - The Long Field, A Memoir of Wales and The Presence of Absence
2021-10-04 19:00 - 20:00 | Online Zoom Event
Pamela Petro writes, ‘I’m not Welsh by birth or ancestry. I’m simply Welsh by choice.’

In The Long Field, she burrows deep into the Welsh countryside to tell how this small country became a big part of an American writer’s life. Petro (Nonfiction and Graphic Novel & Comics, MFA Writing Faculty) and her friend, author Jane Brox (Nonfiction, MFA Writing Faculty), sit down for a conversation about the book, about writing memoir and about the powerful places that hold us and keep calling us back.

Pamela Petro is the author of Travels in an Old Tongue, Sitting Up With The Dead and The Slow Breathe of Stone. Jane Brox has written five books, most recently Silence: A Social History of One Of The Least Understood Elements of Our Lives (2019), which received the 2020 Maine Literary Award for NonFiction.
