Zakiya Dalila Harris whose debut novel, The Other Black Girl, was published in June by Atria Books.
INTRODUCED BY
Maurice Carlos Ruffin author of two books, including the story collection The Ones Who Don’t Say They Love You, forthcoming in August from One World.
We come to books for the experience of reading stories that reflect our lives and enlarge our understanding of the world. Reading Zakiya Dalila Harris’s The Other Black Girl was a double enjoyment for me. I felt the pleasure of her craft: the clear, tense prose that unfurled a plot about a young woman trying to make her way in publishing. I also felt the pleasure of being seen. I know what it is like to work in the corporate realm with all the office politics, the manipulations, the microaggressions. To see those details laid out with such precision made me feel less crazy. My situation wasn’t a one-off. A talented writer like Harris could help me contextualize experiences that I had deep feelings about but hadn’t been able to explain.
I read so much of The Other Black Girl while holding my breath. There’s a huge amount happening beneath the surface. One of the areas the book explores is gaslighting, that unique form of psychological abuse we’ve all become so familiar with. What made you want to delve into this topic?
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How We REMEMBER
WITH HIS FIRST NONFICTION BOOK, HOW THE WORD IS PASSED, PUBLISHED IN JUNE BY LITTLE, BROWN, POET AND SCHOLAR CLINT SMITH DELVES INTO THE LEGACY OF SLAVERY ALIVE IN MONUMENTS AND LANDMARKS WITHIN AND BEYOND THE UNITED STATES, IN AN IMMERSIVE READ THAT EXQUISITELY DEPICTS HOW A NATION AND ITS INHABITANTS REMEMBER ITS HISTORY.
Stone Fruit
Lee Lai introduced
The Other Black Girl
Zakiya Dalila Harris introduced by Maurice Carlos Ruffin
Things We Lost to the Water
Introduced by Nguyên Phan Quê Mai
Your Career On The Line
Writers and agents discuss “The Call”
Saddle Up and Read
A young reader finds an attentive audience during a July 2020 farm visit.
RESTLESS HERD
SOME THOUGHTS ON ORDER—IN POETRY, IN LIFE
A Decade of Women Who Submit
For the past decade an international community of women and nonbinary writers have been working to claim space for themselves in an industry historically dominated by men. Known as Women Who Submit (WWS), the group supports and empowers its members to submit their work in spite of publishing’s inequities. Their achievements have been extraordinary: This July, the organization celebrates its tenth year, with twenty-seven chapters across the United States and Mexico, more than one hundred fifty successful book and magazine publication credits by its members in 2020, and a devoted community of writers, editors, and publishers.
Ehrlich Speaks to Mother-Writers
Lara Ehrlich, author of the short story collection Animal Wife (Red Hen Press, 2020), has a deep narrative investment in the ways the world denies women power and agency. In October 2020 that commitment took a new shape with the first episode of her podcast, Writer Mother Monster, a much-needed balm for those of us balancing mothering and writing in the midst of a global pandemic. Aimed at dismantling the myth that women can “have it all,” her podcast is a series of interviews with mother-writers working in all genres, at varied points in their careers, who candidly discuss the joys and complications of that dual identity. Ehrlich, herself a mother-writer—her daughter turns five this year—spoke about what she has gleaned from these exchanges and how they’ve influenced her own approach.
What We Ought to Do: THE SONG OF IMBOLO MBUE
In her second novel, How Beautiful We Were, Imbolo Mbue uses the chorus of voices in a small African village fighting for justice in the shadow of an American oil company to sing in celebration of community, connection, and enduring hope.
New meets old
A bold modern addition shakes up a traditional Cape in a historic Massachusetts town
Landscaping-End-of-summer cleanup
Give your lawn and garden the care they need by removing debris, dividing crowded perennials, and adding mulch—so plants can come back stronger
Home Finances - Living under one roof
What it takes to make room in your home for mom and dad—or members of the younger generation
You'd best be geeked about our electric performance future
Change is the only constant in life. So said Greek philosopher Heraclitus some 2,500 years ago. Boy, was he right. Especially, it seems, vis-à-vis the car industry these days.
VINTAGE BLOWN 1965 CHEVY II “FUNNY” CAR THAT WAS SERIOUS BUSINESS
As Drew Hardin recalled, “Back in 1964, the term Funny Car wasn’t capitalized and was usually surrounded by quotation marks, because the cars those words described had altered wheelbases that made them look ‘funny.’
Fall favorites
Cool home upgrades and problem-solving product picks
Trend 9.21 2022 Honda Civic Sedan
An unnecessary upgrade we’ll happily take
The Bitter Pill
This is a tough one to write. Remember in last month’s column when I described damage sustained to the Number 8 cylinder in the small-block I had just dropped into my ’67 C10? I had just changed the accelerator pump nozzle, then all hell broke loose after I started the engine and revved it a few times to see if the nozzle change worked. There was a brief clanging sound that stopped as suddenly as it started, but the engine developed a miss as a result.
Cooler bench
TOH general contractor Tom Silva and TOH host Kevin O’Connor create an insulated ice chest that will keep cold beverages on tap and serve as an extra seat on a deck or patio
FUTURE CARS
THE MOST EXCITING NEW CARS, TRUCKS, AND SUVS COMING IN 2021 OR LATER, ALL IN ONE PLACE