For the first time in years, I’ve been wanting to post here, feeling that old confessional bloggy urge, but with Ancestor Trouble coming out at the end of this month, I’m swept up in publication-related duties while staying on top of my other job and watching the news in horror. My author copies arrived last week and it was incredible to hold one in my hands! Since I don’t get out much, I went around the house showing it to the animals and trying to drum up some excitement around it, but they were unmoved if not annoyed. Ida eventually started biting it, so that’s something. And Max (the other human here) was thrilled for me and we… clinked our tea mugs and plan to celebrate properly down the road.
Ancestor Trouble is Roxane Gay’s April book club selection and is anticipated this month by the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, Vulture, the Observer, the Millions, the Chicago Review of Books, the Southern Review of Books, Apartment Therapy, Goodreads readers, and me. Esquire has named it one of the best books of the year so far. BookPage says that I’m a “writer to watch”! And I have a book tour schedule. It’s indescribably wonderful for so many favorite venues and writers and thinkers to be supporting me and Ancestor Trouble in this way. My publisher is putting together a pretty graphic that isn’t ready yet, but meanwhile here are the details.
In other news: I answered LitHub’s author questionnaire, Jeanna Kadlec interviewed me for her Astrology for Writers newsletter, and Adam Morgan asked me some questions for The Frontlist. Last Friday, I participated in a virtual pre-publication conversation with Rabbi Tamar Manasseh, “Ancestor Trouble: A Religious and Political Dialogue,” organized by Dr. Seth L. Sanders for the UC Davis Jewish Studies/Religious Studies Department.
Ancestor Trouble is the April pick for Roxane Gay’s Audacious Book Club! As you’ll see if you click through to her newsletter, she’s had an incredibly tough year, and I’m frankly floored by her generosity in such difficult times. Ancestor Trouble is also among the most anticipated books at some indie bookstores, including Greenlight Bookstore, Books Are Magic, Book People, Flyleaf Books, and Eagle Harbor Books. Gratitude to the booksellers — and to the librarians supporting the book, too. The Seattle Public Library lists it among their “Peak Picks,” and the San Francisco Public Library includes it among the books they’re looking forward to. The book also received a nice review in Library Journal since I last posted, and one I love from Booklist that praises its “Sherlockian verve and… academician’s tenacity.”
I also wrote a piece for Harper’s Bazaar about how I never wanted to get married until, very suddenly, several years into our relationship, I wanted to marry Max: “Marriage Skepticism: A Love Story.”