Tag: Memoir

Book Talk: Carrying the Bones by Eileen Elizabeth

Author Eileen Elizabeth presents her new book in conversation with Reza Aslan.

Join us for a conversation with Eileen Elizabeth, author of Carrying the Bones: Rituals for a Dying World, and acclaimed author and scholar Reza Aslan!

Blending memoir, cultural criticism, environmental writing, and spiritual inquiry, the book explores how ritual and creative practice can help us navigate grief, ecological change, and the search for meaning in an uncertain world. Eileen and Reza will discuss grief, transformation, the sacred dimensions of the natural world, and the role storytelling can play in helping us care for one another and the places we inhabit.

The conversation will be followed by an audience Q&A and book signing.

About the participants:

Eileen Elizabeth is a poet and essayist. She cofounded Boshemia magazine and has written for a variety of publications, including Los Angeles Review of Books, Joyland, Bellevue Literary Review, Appalachian Review, and Pangyrus.

Reza Aslan is an internationally acclaimed writer, producer, and scholar of religions. He is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller Zealot, and editor of Tablet & Pen: Literary Landscapes from the Modern Middle East. He lives in Los Angeles, California.

About the book:

Carrying the Bones braids memoir, cultural criticism, and poetics to ask how we might mourn meaningfully in an era of environmental crisis and pandemic loss. Moving between the personal and the planetary, the book traverses landscapes from Appalachian forests and West Coast cemeteries to Arctic tundra and Sámi song traditions, drawing on ancient Greek lyric, Indigenous cosmologies, and contemporary ecological thought. Each of the four sections serves as a ritual space: an act of carrying the dead, tending their memories, and imagining futures beyond despair. Through fieldwork, historical research, and intimate narrative from a queer perspective, author Eileen Elizabeth explores how grief can be more than private sorrow—it can become an artistic, communal, and ecological practice.

By providing narrative and ritual prompts at a moment when traditional funerary customs have been disrupted and many people lack scripts for grief, Carrying the Bones empowers individuals—especially those who identify as secular or spiritually unaffiliated—to craft new rites of remembrance. It offers a luminous contribution to ongoing conversations about how art, language, and ritual can help us face mortality and care for a dying world.

Mazer Book Launch Salon hosted by Simone Wallace

7 amazing women authors each reading from their new books. Meet the authors, buy books, celebrate community!

The June L. Mazer Lesbian Archives is pleased to present its inaugural Mazer Book Launch Salon featuring new books published by lesbian and queer women authors.

Curated and hosted by Simone Wallace, Co-Founder/Co-Owner of Sisterhood Bookstore (1972-1998), the event will feature seven women whose recent work spans fiction, poetry, memoir, young-adult literature, outdoor adventure, and feminist cultural criticism.

Presented in the spirit of Sisterhood Bookstore and Simone’s lifelong pursuit of connecting writers with readers, the event honors the enduring role lesbian and feminist bookstores have played as places of discovery, dialogue, visibility, and community. Attendees will enjoy a short reading from each author and have an opportunity to meet the writers and purchase books.

Participating authors include Nancy Beverly, author of Journeys Outside & Within: Hiking Adventures & Lessons Learned; Lisa Freeman, author of Snow People; Elizabeth Hale, author of Every Almost; Regina F. Lark, author of Emotional Labor, 2nd Edition; Kris Madigan, author of The Wine-Dark Sea; Jen O’Connor, author of Uncertain Times: Poems on Identity, Love, Loss, & Hope; and Sophia Surti, author of asymmetrical ponderings.

Join us to celebrate, support, and even be inspired to get that book of yours out of your notebook and ready for publication.

How To Exi(s)t: Truong Tran & Mimi Tempestt at Beyond Baroque

A neurodivergent gay war refugee navigates academia, racism, and indeed life itself as a poet, artist, and teacher

How to Exi(s)t: A Poet’s Memoir is an experiment in nonlinear autobiography by the author of the American Book Award-winning Book of the Other, Truong Tran. Poet and scholar Mimi Tempestt will join the author for a reading & conversation in The Wanda Coleman Theater.

Beginning in the present–at a writing residency in the aftermath of this success–How to Exi(s)t moves back and forth in time, in bursts of brief poetic essays grouped by theme. The duality of the title thematizes a dilemma at the heart of the book: how does a poet separate himself from the academic career to which he’s devoted his professional life and what does being a teacher mean outside of it?

Unpeeling the layers between present and past, Tran proceeds in reverse as he explores crucial events and figures in his life, including the reaction to the publication of Book of the Other, the dynamics of whiteness and power framing his repeated rejection for a tenure track position, the profound effect of his dyslexia on his evolution as a writer and artist, the repercussions of being outed by a newspaper after winning an undergrad poetry prize, traumatic episodes growing up in the Vietnamese diaspora in San Jose, and complicated relationships with both his family and his chosen family. Attempting to fathom these experiences and connect them to his present self, Tran examines and reexamines key details rather than dispensing with them in neat anecdotes, reflecting the volatile process of imagination and memory.

Unsparing, even caustic in its instance on racism as a dominant note of American life, but marked by surprising tenderness and humor, How to Exi(s)t is a compelling portrayal of Tran’s pedagogical philosophy as well as an interrogation of a poetic language that conceals as much as it reveals.

About the authors

Truong Tran is a poet, visual artist, and teacher born in Saigon, Vietnam. His book-length poetry project Book of the Other: Small in Comparison (2021) received an American Book Award in 2022. He is the author of seven other collections, The Book of Perceptions, Placing the Accents, Dust and Conscience, Within the Margins, Four Letter Words, 100 words (with Damon Potter), and Looking and Seeing/Seeing and Looking (with Damon Potter). He has also written the children’s book Going Home Coming Home and an artist monograph, I Meant To Say Please Past the Sugar. His poems and books have been translated into Spanish, French, and Dutch. He is the recipient of the Poetry Center Prize, the Fund for Poetry Grant, the California Arts Council Grant, and numerous San Francisco Arts Commission Grants. Truong is also a visual artist who believes that art, be it poetry, cooking, sculpting, and even gardening, are his ways of thinking through the conscious of the times we live in. Truong lives in San Francisco and currently teaches at Northeastern University, Oakland.

Mimi Tempestt (she/they) is a multidisciplinary artist, writer, and daughter of California. She has a M.A. in Literature from Mills College, and a Ph.D in Literature & Creative/Critical Writing from UC Santa Cruz. Her first book, the monumental misrememberings, is published with Co-Conspirator Press (2020). Her second book, The Delicacy of Embracing Spirals, is published with City Lights (2023). She is currently finishing an essay collection, Wanda, Why Aren’ t You Dead?, on the Los Angeles literary icon Wanda Coleman. Her works can be found in Foglifter, The Brooklyn Rail, and at The Studio Museum in Harlem.

About Beyond Baroque

Beyond Baroque is one of the United States’ leading independent Literary | Arts Centers and public spaces dedicated to expanding the public’s knowledge of poetry, literature and art through cultural events and community interaction. Founded in 1968 as an experimental literary magazine, Beyond Baroque is based out of the original City Hall building in Venice, California. The Center offers a diverse variety of literary and arts programming including readings and workshops. The building also houses a bookstore with a large collection of new poetry books for sale.

Livestream: If you can’t join us in person the event will be livestreamed on Beyond Baroque’s YouTube channel at the scheduled time of the event. If you are tuning in this way, no ticket purchase is necessary.

If you are attending in person, ticket purchase is required. Tickets will be available at the Beyond Baroque bookstore on the day of the event, but we recommend registering in advance through Eventbrite. Masks are encouraged while inside our center. Please arrive early.

Event attendees are expected to behave in a respectful and considerate manner while in our space. Beyond Baroque reserves the right to remove individuals from our events, virtual or otherwise, if they are not respecting the space, staff, fellow attendees, or performers.

Book Soup Presents: Susan Orlean discusses & signs Joyride: A Memoir

Join Susan Orlean and Patton Oswalt at the First Congregational Church of Los Angeles for a discussion and signing of her novel Joyride!

NAMED A BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR BY NPR, TIME, OPRAH DAILY, GOODREADS, AND MORE

“Brilliant…A high-spirited, exhilarating memoir.” –The Wall Street Journal – “In Joyride, the takeaway often has as much to do with the art of living as the art of writing.” –Elle – “Wise and exuberant… It’s funny, as well. Just masterful.” –David Sedaris – “Superbly good…Ebullient, frank, moving, and inspiring.” — Booklist (starred review)

From Susan Orlean, the beloved New Yorker writer and bestselling author of The Orchid Thief and The Library Book who has been hailed as “a national treasure” by The Washington Post, comes a masterful memoir of finding her creative calling and purpose that invites us to approach life with wonder, curiosity, and an irrepressible sense of delight.

“The story of my life is the story of my stories,” writes Susan Orlean in this extraordinary, era-defining memoir from one of the greatest practitioners of narrative nonfiction of our time. Joyride is a magic carpet ride through Orlean’s life and career, where every day is an opportunity for discovery and every moment holds the potential for wonder. Throughout her storied career, her curiosity has drawn her to explore the most ordinary and extraordinary of places, from going deep inside the head of a regular ten-year-old boy for a legendary profile (“The American Man Age Ten”) to reporting on a woman who owns twenty-seven tigers, from capturing the routine magic of Saturday night to climbing Mt. Fuji.

Not only does Orlean’s account of a writing life offer a trove of indispensable gleanings for writers, it’s also an essential and practical “master class” ( The New York Times) to embracing any creative path. She takes us through her process of dreaming up ideas, managing deadlines, connecting with sources, chasing every possible lead, confronting writer’s block and self-doubt, and crafting the perfect lede–a Susan specialty.

While Orlean has always written her way into other people’s lives in order to understand the human experience, Joyride is her most personal book ever–a searching journey through finding her feet as a journalist, recovering from the excruciating collapse of her first marriage, falling head-over-heels in love again, becoming a mother while mourning the decline of her own mother, sojourning to Hollywood for films based on her work including Adaptation and Blue Crush, and confronting mortality. Joyride is also a time machine to a bygone era of journalism, from Orlean’s bright start in the golden age of alt-weeklies to her career-making days working alongside icons such as Robert Gottlieb, Tina Brown, David Remnick, Anna Wintour, Sonny Mehta, and Jonathan Karp–forces who shaped the media industry as we know it today.

Infused with Orlean’s signature warmth and wit, Joyride is a must-read for anyone who hungers to start, build, and sustain a creative life. Orlean inspires us to seek out daily inspiration and rediscover the marvels that surround us.

Author Event: Deborah Samuel with Deborah Read

Join us for a book discussion and signing of GRACE THROUGH FIRE!

Join us in celebrating Grace Through Fire by Deborah Samuel!

This event is free to attend, but we kindly ask that you RSVP, as it helps us plan for seating and staffing. Walk-ins are always welcome!

About the book:

For fans of Cheryl Strayed and Glennon Doyle, a raw and redemptive memoir of surviving generational trauma, caregiving, and spiritual awakening that chronicles one woman’s journey from southern survival to West Coast freedom.

When her elderly mother shoots her abusive husband—Deborah’s father—in their Arkansas home, Deborah is thrust into a storm of media frenzy, grief, and caregiving. As she fights for justice, supports her paralyzed wife, and battles personal demons, Deborah begins to unravel a deeper legacy of generational trauma—and realizes the need to rescue herself.

Told with gripping honesty, Grace Through Fire follows Deborah’s odyssey through murder trials, chronic illness, financial collapse, and spiritual reckoning. From the chaos of the rural South to the stillness of yoga studios and the healing waters of Lake Powell and Crater Lake, Deborah rediscovers her strength, sobriety, and purpose.

This is a narrative of transformation and fierce resilience—a memoir for anyone who has ever questioned their worth, carried the pain of their family, or longed for a fresh start. At the heart of it all is a bold love story, a leap of faith, and one woman’s courageous choice to create a life of freedom, service, and light on the California coast.

About Deborah Samuel: Deborah Samuel was born in Rogers, Arkansas, and spent two decades as an award-winning educator for at-risk youth before being named National Physical Education Teacher of the Year. A licensed pilot and aircraft mechanic, she also flipped nearly thirty homes before transitioning into luxury real estate. Today, she is a senior specialist realtor and a cofounder of SB SOS, an organization that helps older adults in transition. She lives aboard a classic yacht with her spouse and their black cat in Santa Barbara, California.

About Deborah Read: Deborah Read is an Emmy Award–winning television producer whose extensive career spans some of entertainment’s biggest productions, including The Oscars, The Golden Globes, The Bachelor franchise, and the Vancouver Winter Olympics ceremonies. She is also the creator and host of Over 50 Shades of Great Podcast. Deborah is delighted to be apart of this special celebration of Deborah Samuel’s launch of Grace Through Fire at Good Girl Books.