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“What surprised me was that I discovered I enjoyed it sometimes: writing prose.” In this Books Are Magic event, Shane McCrae speaks with Patricia Smith and reads from his debut memoir, Pulling the Chariot of the Sun: A Memoir of a Kidnapping (Scribner, 2023), which is featured in Page One in the September/October issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
In this Books Are Magic event, Shastri Akella reads from his debut novel, The Sea Elephants (Flatiron Books, 2023), and speaks about his journey navigating the writing life with author Rakesh Satyal. Akella is featured in “First Fiction 2023” in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
In this Books Are Magic event, Greg Marshall reads from his debut memoir, Leg: The Story of a Limb and the Boy Who Grew From It (Abrams Press, 2023), and discusses what inspires his writing with author Chloé Cooper Jones. Marshall is featured in Literary MagNet in the July/August issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
Samantha Irby reads from her new essay collection, Quietly Hostile (Vintage, 2023), and speaks with writer and editor Jazmine Hughes for this Books Are Magic event held at St. Ann’s Church in Brooklyn, New York. Quietly Hostile is featured in Page One in the May/June issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
“Before we go any further together, me with my lanterns, you following close behind, light flickering on both of our faces, I want to be clear about something: This isn’t a tell-all.” Maggie Smith reads from her debut memoir, You Could Make This Place Beautiful (Atria/One Signal, 2023), and speaks to Leslie Jamison about the writing process in this Books Are Magic event held at St. Ann’s Church in Brooklyn, New York.
In this Books Are Magic event, Karisma Price reads from her debut collection, I’m Always So Serious (Sarabande Books, 2023), and discusses the inspiration behind her work with poet Terrance Hayes. “As a poet, oddity is good,” says Price. For more from Price, read her installment of our Writers Recommend series.
In this Books Are Magic event, Patricia Engel reads from her story collection The Faraway World (Avid Reader Press, 2023) and speaks with Naima Coster about writing habits and what inspires her to write. The Faraway World is featured in Page One in the January/February issue of Poets & Writers Magazine.
In this Books Are Magic event, Ada Calhoun reads from her memoir Also a Poet: Frank O’Hara, My Father, and Me (Grove Press, 2022) and discusses her writing process, New York City, and parenting with Emma Straub.
In this Books Are Magic event moderated by Denne Michele Norris, Rosemary Donahue reads from their essay “Thank U, Ex” and Nichole Perkins reads from her essay “Confessions of a Lonely Feminist” both published in the anthology Sex and the Single Woman: 24 Writers Reimagine Helen Gurley Brown’s Cult Classic (Harper Perennial, 2022) edited by Eliza Smith and Haley Swanson.
“Is it okay to begin with the obvious? I am full of stones,” reads Ada Limón from “The Magnificent Frigatebird,” a poem from her latest collection, The Hurting Kind (Milkweed Editions, 2022), in this reading and conversation with Patricia Smith at Books Are Magic in Brooklyn.
