E.B.'s Notes & News: August 2023 📚🎉🐢
Notes & News: August 2023
It's the beginning of August! So you know what that means?? This Wednesday 8/2/23 marked ONE YEAR of Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter being out in the world. I can't believe it has been a year. So many things have happened but also it went by so fast?? An absolute whirlwind and I am so, so, so, so, so grateful to all of you for your support and enthusiasm the past year. Seriously. I am grateful to all of you who have purchased the book, given the book as a gift, checked it out from your local library, demanded your librarians buy it for your local library, listened to the audiobook, read the ebook, posted photos of your (very patient) alive pets next to the book, submitted pet tributes for the Good Grief Instagram, came to one (or more!) of my events, sent me a message about how much you enjoyed reading the book... just so many small things that have added up to so much. I promise I will repay the favor when you all publish books of your own. THANK YOU. Thank you.
Okay, enough with the mushiness. Below you can find what I've been writing, reading, a cause I care about, my upcoming events, and the incredible things my friends and pets have been up to.
xoxo,
E.B.
Header image is part of an illustration by John Jay Cabuay.
People & Places to Support:
One of my favorite independent bookstores in New York City, Yu & Me Books, had a catastrophic fire above their shop on July 4. They lost their entire inventory and also will need to do a gut renovation of the shop from all the water and smoke damage. Yu & Me will have to be closed for a year at minimum during this whole process, and the owner, Lucy Yu, is working hard to make sure her booksellers continue to get paid and keep their health insurance the whole time. This is obviously a nightmare for a small independent business, so please consider supporting them by donating to their GoFundMe and buying books from their Bookshop page until the store reopens. You can also even Venmo Lucy directly @LUCYYWAVES. Every little bit helps! Thank you!
Writing Notes & News:
As I said above, this past Wednesday marked one year of Good Grief which is pretty damn exciting.
Another exciting thing is that Good Grief was featured not once but TWICE in the Mother of Dogs podcast! Host Tina Krupczak reviewed Good Grief in episode four, and then Tina and I had a long and interesting conversation about grieving pets and writing books for episode five. See above for the Mother of Dogs podcast logo plus a photo of me wearing my very cool Mother of Dogs branded t-shirt. Seymour approves.
There are also new reading recs by yours truly up on The Shepherd! This list is for all you parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles and caregivers who need to have hard conversations with little ones about pets dying. I was inspired to pitch a list of my own after reading my friend Tove Danovich’s list of books about animals that help us understand ourselves better. If you haven’t checked it out before, The Shepherd is a really cool website to find books to read! Authors recommend lists of their favorite based on different themes, and you can sort bookshelves based on topics such as “dog books” or “books about death.” Check it out!
There is another new Non-Fiction about Non-Humans interview up on Fiction Advocate -- my conversation with my friend and mentor Cat Warren, author of What the Dog Knows and What the Dog Knows: Young Readers Edition. I always love talking to Cat and this conversation was especially fun! You can find all the past Non-Fiction about Non-Human interviews now at this link here.
And, finally, for Wellesley, I wrote a profile of 2020 alum Olivia Reckley who is one of the social media coordinators for the New England Revolution. I love interviewing people who are passionate about the work they do and Olivia did not disappoint!
Events Notes & News:
My upcoming events are below, but be sure to check the events page on my website for the most up-to-date information, plus links to recordings of some of my previous events.
UPCOMING 2023 EVENTS:
NOTE: all events are in person unless labeled ***VIRTUAL***
***THIS SUNDAY*** 8/6/23, 4:00pm EDT: My first book event in the state of Maine! “Dog Days of Summer” event with Karen Fine at Back Cove Books in Portland, ME. The event will be a fundraiser for Animal Refuge League of Greater Portland! Please check out the ARLGP’s wishlists before the event for supplies you can bring/donate.
Saturday 9/9/23 and Sunday 9/10/23, 11:00am-3:00pm EDT: Save the date for the River Bend Bookshop’s 2023 Author Stage on Hubbard Green, at 99 Hubbard Street, Glastonbury, Connecticut, in conjunction with Glastonbury Art's Arts & Crafts Festival on the Green. I am still waiting for final details on exactly what day/time I will be presenting but I hope to see all my Connecticut people there! (Thanks to Jaime Green for encouraging me to apply to this fun event!)
Thursday 10/19/23, 7:30pm EDT: I am over the moon to get to be part of the Cary Library Literary Cafe Series, an author series that happens at the library in my hometown of Lexington, Massachusetts! The very library I grew up going to! And even more exciting, I will be in conversation for this with Neema Avashia. Stay tuned for more info!
Reading Notes & News:
Guys, I am just a mess when it comes to reading this summer. My StoryGraph and GoodReads accounts are not up to date, I'm like halfway through five different books, my 2023 reading challenge is saying I am "10 books behind schedule"... it's a disaster! Is it the heat?? The thunderstorms?? Just really cannot focus on reading these days at all.
That being said, here are some books I have been reading and sort of reading since I last emailed you:
I read and loved Freddie by Grant Hayter-Menzies which comes out this fall! Here's my blurb: "Grant Hayter-Menzies has written a moving gem for anyone who loves a rescue. Freddie is a heartfelt story of trust, love, patience, and perseverance learned from one fearful Pomeranian. It’s a tribute to life’s surprises: sometimes you don't get the dog you imagined, but you get the dog you needed." The above photo is of dear sweet Freddie himself!
I am halfway through Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah and it is really intense but also A+.
I also read the young reader's edition of What the Dog Knows by Cat Warren and it was a DELIGHT and an INSPIRATION!
I finally finished Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer! Yes it was as good as everyone said it was!
I read and loved Kings of Their Own Ocean by Karen Pinchin which is all about bluefin tuna! (Rich Bartels, you are going to LOVE this book.) Stay tuned for a future Non-Fiction about Non-Humans interview with Karen!
I've been dipping into advanced copies of two books from Heyday Books: California Against the Sea by Rosanna Xia and Stranded by Maddalena Bearzi, both of whom will also be in future Non-Fiction about Non-Humans interviews!
I started an advanced copy of The Tigerbelles: Olympic Legends from Tennessee State by Aime Alley Card. Stay tuned for a blurb from me about it!
I have next to my bed the new children's book about turtles by Sy Montgomery called The Book of Turtles. Somehow I haven't read it yet, but I already know I am going to love it.
And I started Far from the Rooftop of the World by Amy Yee, a fellow Wellesley alum. Stay tuned for a write up on Amy in the fall 2023 issue of Wellesley magazine!
I also read Coraline by Neil Gaiman for my dark books book club and it was... fine? I mostly just felt like it was a Roald Dahl knock-off but maybe that's just me.
Friend Notes & News:
Look at all these very awesome things my friends have been doing!!!!!
Kea Krause wrote about about invasive plants in Maine for Sierra! (See above for a photo of the culprit.)
Sara Shukla wrote about Barbie for Cognoscenti!
Alysia Abbott also wrote about Barbie for Cognoscenti!
Emily Randall wrote about the importance of LGBTQ+ representation in government for Teen Vogue!
Jason Prokowiew wrote "The Demulcent of Shame" for The Audacity!
Dorian Fox wrote about embracing your range for the Brevity blog!
Plus you can preorder the English version of My Lemon Tree by Samantha Barendson, which is being translated from the French by my pal M Jaime Zuckerman and her translation partner Christine H. Chen!
Menagerie Notes & News:
A shout out to all of the many, many, many pets who posed with copies of Good Grief the past year! You are the true heroes here! I love you all!
