By Katrin Schuman

All writers are a crazy mixture of egotistical, manic, single-minded, optimistic on the one hand and sensitive, catastrophizing, scattered and pessimistic on the other - at least all the ones I know. How do we live and produce work in a world filled with such extremes? Especially now when our political and physical reality is so chaotic?

Monday, September 14, 2020, at 5:00 PM

Harvard Book Store and GrubStreet welcome Peace Adzo Medie — author of Global Norms and Local Action: The Campaigns to End Violence Against Women in Africa — for a virtual discussion of her debut novel, His Only Wife. She will be joined in conversation by acclaimed writer Wayétu Moore, author of She Would Be King: A Novel and The Dragons, The Giant, The Women: A Memoir. For more details and to register, click here.

About His Only Wife

Afi Tekple is …

I'm amazed by writers who stop reading in their genre while writing their own books. The majority of them seem to be worried about becoming overly influenced by the voice, themes and even plot of the book they're reading.

Personally, I can't imagine not reading fiction for the many years it takes me to complete a novel. And in terms of being influenced: I'm actively looking for inspiration and ideas. I want to be influenced.

By Katrin Schumann

For those of you reading this who haven't yet published your first book, I'm sure you've dreamed about your book launch. You'll have thought about whether to go big or small, have it at a bookstore, in an event space, bar or library, and who you hope might turn up (maybe even local media!). 

There are a lot of misconceptions out there about launches - both the launch event itself and the "book tour" that happens afterwards. They're a bit like the three martini lunch which used to be common practice and underwritten by your employer, but not so much anymore. …

Join the first virtual Tell-All Boston event on May 7th at 7:00pm, brought to you by alumni of GrubStreet’s Memoir Incubator and Essay Incubator (and co-sponsored by Porter Square Books). Maya Shanbhag Lang, author of What We Carry: A Memoir will be reading alongside featured readers including Susan McGee Bailey, Alicia Googins, Shirley Jones-Luke, and Linda K. Wertheimer. For more details and to register, visit the Tell-All Boston website.