Celebrating Community
“If you can dance through this, Esme, you can dance through anything.” In The Lily in the Light by Brooklyn author Kristin Fields, the “this” to which the teacher of 11-year-old aspiring ballerina Esme Johnson refers is the disappearance of her 4-year-old sister, Lily. Don’t expect, however, a whodunit-cum-Law & Order episode where Queens, where the Johnsons reside, goes out […]
The novelist Rachel Cline wrote the first page of what’s now described as a MeToo novel nine years before Christine Blasey-Ford testified. “At last everyone is seeing how ubiquitous this experience is,” Cline, who was born and raised in Brooklyn Heights, says. “It was a moment that had to happen and needs to continue to happen.” The good, painful, and ambiguous consequences […]
The first shots were fired the day Millie was born. “You’ve finally got yourself a beauty,” was the word in the Kaplan’s Brooklyn neighborhood, where older sister Ruth would be known solely for her intellect. As grown women during the Second World War, the two main characters in The Wartime Sisters (St. Martin’s Press; January 22, 2019; hardcover), prove that […]
Of the very few bookstores in Red Hook, Pioneer Books stands out for its smart curation and clear visibility along Van Brunt. Here are a few titles currently stocked at the humble storefront that we couldn’t help reviewing. Pioneer Books hosts regular events and book clubs. Check out their website, swing by 289 Van Brunt St, or call (718) 596-3001 […]
2018 has proven itself to be a monumental year, reeking of political devastation far more significant than ever deemed possible. Yet in light of these events, there has been an unmistakable amount of positivity surrounding a particular political figure. On Nov. 23, former First Lady Michelle Obama released her first book, “Becoming.” The memoir is a coming-of-age story about Michelle’s […]
Brooklyn Heights artist Samantha Dion Baker published her first book last August. She is a BASIS Independent Brooklyn parent, and has been holding student workshops there. “Draw Your Day: An Inspiring Guide to Keeping a Sketch Journal” is an instructive guide that delves into Baker’s creative process and provides ways to develop and master a […]
That the American, Jewish, lesbian poet Adrienne Rich is the epitome of brilliance is obvious. As a college student in the late 40s to her death in 2012, Rich delivered masterful poems commonly looked at as the work of genius. What may be less obvious but no less surprising to readers in 2018 is just how equally well-crafted and trenchant her prose is. A politically-engaged writer for most of her life, her piercing […]
Head to the Park Slope Barnes & Noble and Discover How to Get Published in 5 Weeks “Everybody has a story. But few know how to tell it well, where to send it, or how to convince an editor to pay for their words,” writes Professor Susan Shapiro in her latest book, The Byline Bible: Get Published in 5 Weeks, which is the print […]
By Lorraine Duffy Merkl “A cocktail of excess” is the lyrical way Mandy Stadtmiller describes her train wreck existence in the new memoir, Unwifeable (Simon & Schuster.) The prosaic term is: a compound of explosives. The comedian and journalist, whose writing has appeared most famously in the New York Post, New York Magazine and xojane, is currently (and ironically) a […]
The queen of literary memoir releases an exquisite collection of poems on May 8. Best known for the memoirs “Lit” and “The Liars Club,” Karr displays her formal mastery and heartfelt innovations in this collection that looks at the commingling of ribald humanity and the potentialities of God. The first half collects poems on Karr’s usual themes—Texas memories, comic carnage, […]