Summer

 I can’t believe I haven’t posted here in four months. But time became weirdly elastic since March of 2020. Today I kind of looked around and thought, wait, it’s 2021? I was putting on make up and heading to meet friends for lunch. Again, I paused. This is so normal. This is so weird. I’ve been having that feeling a lot. In NYC (where I am so grateful to finally return to) Michael and I wanted to have a drink at Dante, the much talked about bar down the street, and decided to actually SIT AT THE BAR. We walked in and I froze. There before me was a real bar, with real people having real cocktails, talking and laughing. I felt like I had stepped into a time machine. I’m not sure how long this strange feeling will continue. Maybe forever. Probably forever. We just came through a historic pandemic. I used to read about the Spanish flu and wonder how people got through it. Suddenly I was like those long ago people. (Have you read SO LONG, SEE YOU TOMORROW by William Maxwell? One of my favorite books)

I got both jabs, then booked dentist, doctor, colonoscopy. (My mammogram was already booked or that would have been one of those calls) Colonoscopy was yesterday, and you don’t visit this blog to read about that but ok, the prep isn’t fun, but the procedure takes only a couple hours of your day, from showing up to eating your crackers and drinking your apple juice. I’ve lost too many friends to colon cancer. And not to be a public service announcement, but please do this fir yourself and everyone who loves you. 

As you know, I like to read real books. Not kindles or whatever. I sniff my books and caress them and study them. BUT! My niece Melissa gifted me an audio book of THE DEATH OF MRS. WESTAWAY by Ruth Ware and said: The book is good but the woman who reads it is great. Boy, was she right. In two weeks I listened to all the Ware books, all read by Church, while I knit nine neck warmers for our graduating class at my Newport MFA. Bliss! Start with that one, by the way. The neck warmers were mistake rib in Rowan Big Wool. 

Strange things I’ve done: bought tickets to Broadway shows, bought plane tickets, booked hotels, eaten in restaurants, hugged people, had dinner parties, gone to Pilates, shopped at Target without a mask. 

Normal things I’ve done: see above. 

Lots of news here!

 Yes, we are still mostly staying inside with our pod, but I still have a lot of exciting things coming up that I think many of you will enjoy too.

First, I am so excited that my new YA novel, JUDE BANKS, SUPER HERO, will be published by Penguin on May 18. It's available for pre-order through Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Bookshop, or your favorite independent book store. Here's a description of the book, which will appeal to adults too:

Katie was Jude's favorite person in the world. And not many brothers say that about their sister and mean it. But to Jude, Katie was everything--the person who made him learn how to say "I love you" in every language, who performed dramatic readings of Romeo and Juliet, who obsessed over every item on the diner menu looking for the most authentic diner meal. The one who called him "Jude Banks, Superhero," because to her, Jude was the best.

She was also the person who died. Out of nowhere, and without a goodbye. And Jude believes he was the one who killed her.

Now, twelve-year-old Jude must figure out what life looks like without his favorite person. With Mom checked out, and Dad just trying to do his best, Jude enters a world of grief youth groups and dropped-off lasagnas. It's only when he meets a girl named Clementine, who also lost a sibling, that he begins to imagine a world where maybe things might be okay. But Clementine is nursing a terrible guilt, and even though Katie called Jude a "superhero," he isn't sure he can save her.

In her signature prose, Hood crafts an extraordinary story of grief and resilience, asking the important question: How does a family begin to heal?

I will be posting Zoom events as soon as I get the schedule.

Lots of Zoom conversations coming up!

I will be talking with Jeff Porter, whose memoir PLANET CLAIRE is the second one I've published in Gracie Belle Books, my line of grief memoirs with Akashic Press. If you haven't yet read PLANET CLAIRE, I know you will love it as much as I do. It's sad and funny and hopeful and romantic. The Zoom talk is through Buffalo's fabulous bookstore, Talking Leaves. Details here: https://www.tleavesbooks.com/

On Friday, April 9, at 5PM I will be at the fabulous Brattleboro Literary Festival's Cocktail Hour via Zoom with Julia Cooke discussing the good old days of being a flight attendant! Julia has a new book coming out about all things Pan Am, and my own memoir about flying for TWA, FLY GIRL, will be out in May 2022. So fasten your seat belts and join us! Details available at https://www.brattleboro.com/downtown/brattleboro-literary-festival/

Then on May 7, I am Zooming via Porter Square Books with Danielle Dreilinger to discuss her fascinating new book, THE SECRET HISTORY OF HOME ECONOMICS: HOW TRAILBLAZING WOMEN HARNESSED THE POWER OF HOME AND CHANGED THE WAY WE LIVE. Details here: https://www.portersquarebooks.com/

And teaching, teaching, teaching! All via Zoom, of course.

One of my favorite writers conferences to teach at was the Iceland Writers Retreat in Reykjavick. Iceland is an extraordinary country and IWR is an extraordinary conference. Like everyone else, they are going to be online this year, and I am lucky enough to be teaching a workshop on my favorite writing device, the objective correlative, AND to be on a panel. The workshop is on May 1 at 12:45 and is followed by a Q and A. The panel is at 4:15 that same day. Details and registration are here: https://www.icelandwritersretreat.com/

I am teaching a month long online workshop on Writing the Personal Essay through the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown's online classes, 24Pearlst. The dates are April 12-May 7. I love teaching this class and if you want to try your hand at or improve on writing personal essays, please join me here: https://web.fawc.org/24-pearl-street/workshops?tid=All&field_acdemic_year_tid=164&field_session_value=All 

Speaking of The Provincetown Fine Arts Work Center, I was scheduled to teach a memoir workshop there for a week last summer, which got moved to this summer, which got moved to online this spring. I miss being in that beautiful, special place but am delighted to Zoom my class the week of May 10-14 from noon-2. Registration here: https://web.fawc.org/

More immediately, Hester Kaplan and I are teaching our prompt based lunchtime workshops for fiction and non-fiction writers on Monday, Wednesday and Friday from noon-1, weeks of March 1 and March 8. Very few spots still open so email me here to save one!

Yes, there's more exciting news!

The low residency Newport MFA that I founded and co-direct is accepting applications for our June residency, which will be online. But things are looking good for us to resume in person for the next one in January 2022. Our guest faculty in June includes bestselling, twice Oprah Book Club writer Jane Hamilton and award winning essayist and non fiction writer Emily Bernard!  Applications and information here: https://salve.edu/graduate-studies-and-continuing-education/mfa-creative-writing

And last, but certainly not least, mark your calendars for the Newport MFA Weekend Writers Workshop, June 25-27, with award winning, best selling writers Andre Dubus III (teaching Fiction), Nick Flynn (teaching Memoir) and David Yoo (teaching YA). Registration is not open yet but I will post link here as well as on Instagram and Facebook as soon as it is!

A busy spring, albeit from my sofa! Not too busy to immerse myself in reading Barbara Pym and Elizabeth Bowen novels, keep knitting my Wool and the Gang's Julia sweater Billie Jean, and take Annabelle on college visits--tours have been suspended so we are just driving around campuses to see what she does and doesn't like.

Stay safe, everybody! I hope to see you at some of these events or workshops!

Happy 2021

When Michael and I walked  out of our NYC apartment last March, never did I imagine that almost a year later I wouldn’t have walked back in. Or that hundreds of thousands of Americans would be dead. Or that democracy would be threatened. Growing up in the 60s, I was acutely aware that I lived in a time during which history was being made. That is pretty much how I have felt at least some part of every day these 306 days. But such grim, sad history! I remain hopeful that we will all get our jabs and be able to re-enter the world. That democracy will prevail and a sense of hope and security will return. I hope you and yours are all safe and healthy during these strange times. 

Here are quite a few things to lift your spirits or keep you busy or distracted or to inspire you. 

Last fall my son Sam, his girlfriend Katherine and I were lamenting that everything like theatre, readings, writers conferences, and the like had all been cancelled. If only we could invite our favorite actors and writers and teachers into our living rooms! That’s when the proverbial light bulb went off: why not help others do just that? And so Craft Talks was born. Sam and Katherine filmed six of the most beloved, bestselling, award winning novelists in the country giving craft talks. Andre Dubus III, Laura Lippman, Sophfronia Scott, John Searles, Bill Roorbach and yours truly. Go to Crafttalks.com to sign up for unlimited access to these talks and get your novel written!

More for writers: the Newport MFA, the low residency MFA that I founded and co-direct, just finished its January residency. I really think we have the best low residency MFA around and I’d love for you to find out more by emailing me or going to the Newport MFA website!

Ok, final opportunity for writers here. Hester Kaplan and I are starting our weekly workshops via Zoom again in February and we’d love to have you join us. They began as a way to create a writing community during these challenging times and to stay inspired and writing through prompts and discussions. We meet three times a week from noon-1 and cannot wait to start up again after a holiday hiatus. 

All of you readers—which is most of you!—I'm so excited to announce the second book in my Gracie Belle Books imprint with Akashic Books: PLANET CLAIRE by Jeff Porter is the story of how humor, memories, and love got Jeff through the loss of his beloved wife. Order it now from your favorite bookstore or online!

For weekly reading, I highly encourage you to subscribe to my wonderful husband’s newsletter. It’s free and fabulous, with recipes and recommendations for all sorts of things. Go to Ruhlman.substack.com to sign up. 

I have read a lot during these 306 days, typically more than my vow of reading a book a week. So far this year I’ve read Actress by Anne Enright, Excellent Women by Barbara Pym, Snow by John Banville, and a new book about my beloved Beatles, One, Two, Three, Four by Craig Brown. Recommend them all, plus my 2020 favorites HAMNET by Maggie O’Farrell and Shuggie Bain by Douglas Stuart. 

And for my knitters, I hope knitting has brought you the comfort it has brought me these months. Before pandemic I had knit exactly one sweater. Since pandemic: almost five. This newest one is Billie Jean by Wool and the Gang. Knit in moss stitch on big needles, it’s perfect knitting for binge watching the news, Schitts Creek, and season one of The Morning Show. 

This is a long post, but I hope it gives you lots of ideas and distractions for the weeks and months ahead. Stay safe. And as always, read, knit, cook, and hold the people you love close (if only metaphorically for now).