Dear Friends,

It’s hard to say anything definitive about this time, December 2021. I had given up on doing anything in person related to my book (I had a wonderful trip to Iowa in September, and that was enough), but it did also feel odd to have done nothing local or closer to where I live. 

In November, my friend Kyle asked if I’d be interested in doing a reading in Buffalo at Fitz Books with a poet who would be in town on his book tour: Moheb Soliman. I rarely leave my neighborhood and so it seemed a bit of a stretch: to go to another city. But we did it, and it was a terrific event on the themes of geography, place, and identity. Moheb’s poems and my essays read differently in texture and valence, but they also had resonance with each other. That was December 5th. Now, it’s two weeks later. Now, we’re in lockdown again, and R and I have canceled anything that’s not essential. I would not do an in-person reading now, after reading Ed Yong’s recent essay in The Atlantic: “I Canceled My Birthday Party Because of Omicron.” Please stay safe, friends.

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The postcard above is from a series I’m making based on epigraphs in my story collection. I am so grateful to bell hooks for her writing and work, which has shaped my life. I mention her book, Talking Back, in my conversation with writer, editor, and journalist Valerie Boyd in the current issue of Creative Nonfiction magazine (see below).

Here are new or forthcoming publications to share from the second half of 2021:

Collaborations:

– “Finding Friendship in Pandemic Collaboration: an illustrated music playlist w/ visual artist Shebani Rao in Lit Hub (November 2021)
– “Tracing Literary Lineage,” a conversation with Valerie Boyd, Creative Nonfiction  (November 2021) 
– Author Interview, Paper Concert: A Conversation in the Round Amy Wright (Sarabande Books, 2021). More about Amy’s project here.

Books (work in anthologies):

– Bending Genre 2nd Edition, Bloomsbury: “Listening for the Sound,” a revision of my Poets & Writers’ craft essay (January 2023)
– Flash Fiction Forward anthology, W.W. Norton, “Skin” (February 2023) 

Essays:

– “Rapunzel No More,”: on hair falling & new glasses, Oldster Magazine (December 2021)

I also wanted to share a few book recommendations:

–The Body Papers by Grace Talusan
– Curb by Divya Victor
– High Yella by Steve Majors

Happy Solstice, my friends! I would love to know what you are reading and how you are doing. Drop me a line if you have a chance. Or better yet, a postcard!

Warmly,
Sejal

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This letter was originally sent out on December 21, 2021. Thanks for reading my newsletter. If you’re seeing this newsletter for the first time, you can read previous issues and subscribe here.