A Reading with Anna B. Moore & Jennifer MacBain Stephens

Anna B. Moore has published lots of creative nonfiction and a little fiction in places such as American Scholar, Shenandoah, Pithead Chapel, and Smokelong Quarterly. Her first novel, Don't Pity the Desperate, will be out in September. In 2022, her essay in Pembroke Magazine, “Deathbed,” about her father's last month of life, was an honorable mention in Best American Essays 2022. That same year, three of her essays were nominated for Sundress Press Best of the Net Awards. "That Our Stars Had Become Unmanageable," an essay about her father's alcoholism and the concept of fate; "Jenny Dies by Jet Ski,” about soap operas that shaped Anna's perspective as a child; and "Teaching Duncan, 2009," about a student's addiction and her own numerous failures. You can read these, and more of her work, at https://www.annabmoore.com/.

She lives with her family, two cats, and two dogs in Northern California, where she teaches writing and literature at Chico State–the university mentioned by actress Haley Lu Richardson playing Portia on Season Two of The White Lotus.

Jennifer MacBain-Stephens is a writer who lives in Iowa City, Iowa with her children and works at a science journal.  She grew up in the Midwest and went to NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she studied three subjects: Drama, English, and Journalism. She has also lived in California, D.C., London, and New York, for various periods. Jennifer is the author of fifteen poetry chapbooks and five full length poetry collections (“Your Best Asset is a White Lace Dress” Yellow Chair Press (2016)  “The Messenger is Already Dead,” Stalking Horse Press (2017,) “We’re Going to Need a Higher Fence,” (Lit Fest Press,) and “The Vitamix and the Murder of Crows,” (Apocalypse Party Press.) Her most recent book, “Pool Parties” is forthcoming from Unsolicited Press in 2023. She is also the author of a  few non-fiction books from a long time ago when she used to work as a fact checker at Rosen Publishing and Scholastic Inc. in New York City. She is also an avid bike rider and rock climber and makes collages, takes photographs, and hosts the free, monthly poetry reading series Today You are Perfect, sponsored by the non-profit Iowa City Poetry.