A Reading and Conversation with Melissa Febos

The Writer Next Door Reading Series

Iowa is unique in its high concentration of writers of every stripe: investigative journalists, poets and novelists, spoken word artits, playwrites and children's book authors. This limited seating reading series offers a chance to say "hello" to your neighbor wirters, and to hear them read from and talk about thier newest work. Join us once a month throughout the year as each member of the Porch Light team hosts their favorite "writer next door."

First up, a reading and conversation with University of Iowa professor Melissa Febos. Melissa Febos is the author of the memoir, Whip Smart (St. Martin’s Press 2010), which Terry Gross called “fascinating” and Kirkus Reviews said “expertly captures grace within depravity,” and the essay collection, Abandon Me (Bloomsbury 2017), which was a LAMBDA Literary Award finalist, a Publishing Triangle Award finalist, an Indie Next Pick, and was widely named a best book of 2017. Her third book, Girlhood (Bloomsbury), was released in March 2021 and became a national bestseller. A craft book, Body Work, is forthcoming in 2022 from Catapult.

Febos is the inaugural winner of the Jeanne Córdova Nonfiction Award from LAMBDA Literary. She has been awarded other prizes and fellowships from MacDowell, Bread Loaf Writer’s Conference, The Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, Virginia Center for Creative Arts, Vermont Studio Center, The Barbara Deming Memorial Foundation, The BAU Institute at the Camargo Foundation, Ucross Foundation, Ragdale, Prairie Schooner, and others.

The recipient of an MFA from Sarah Lawrence College, her essays have recently appeared in Tin House, Granta, The Paris Review, The Yale Review, The Sun, The Believer, The Sewanee Review, and The New York Times Magazine.

https://www.melissafebos.com/

Melissa will be joined in conversation with PorchLight director Jennifer Colville.