Episode 128 - Author Spotlight with Melissa Homestead

Book Cougars - Episode 128.jpg

Episode One Hundred Twenty Eight Show Notes
KEY: CW = Chris Wolak and EF = Emily Fine

– Currently Reading –
The Age of Light – Whitney Scharer (EF)
Leaving Coy’s Hill – Katherine A. Sherbrooke (CW) release 5/4/2021
The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power – Deirdre Mask (EF)(audio)

– Just Read –
Brood – Jackie Polzin (EF)
Finding Freedom: A Cook’s Story Remaking a Life from Scratch – Erin French (EF)

– Biblio Adventures –
Chris enjoyed a virtual adventure via a joint event with the Emily Dickinson Museum and The Emily Dickinson Collection at Harvard’s Houghton Library.

Emily watched to Lisa Marie Donovan, author of Our Lady of Perpetual Hunger, and Phyllis Grant, author of Everything Is Under Control talk about breadcrumbs.

Chris attended an event via the GLBT Historical Society in San Francisco. The topic was Archiving Lesbian Memory, Stewarding Lesbian Futures. You can watch a recording of the event here.
Panelists included:
Jen Jack Giesking – A Queer New York: Geographies of Lesbians, Dykes, and Queers, and the website An Everyday Queer New York.
Cait McKinney Information Activism: A Queer History of Lesbian Media Technologies and Inside Killjoy’s Kastle: Dykey Ghosts, Feminist Monsters, and other Lesbian Hauntings
Briona Simone Jones – Mouths of Rain: An Anthology of Black Lesbian Thought
Shawn(ta) Smith-Cruz

Emily attended the Reading Across Rhode Island event with Jason Reynolds discussing his book Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, co-authored with Ibram X. Kendi.

Emily moderated an event via the Newburyport Literary Festival with Deirdre Mask author of The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal about Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power. You can watch a video of the event here.

– Upcoming Jaunts –
On Saturday, May 1, Chris is signed up to attend an event via the London Library Lit Fest with Sarah Waters in conversation with Hallie Rubenhold. You can sign up for the event here.

Emily will be attending a joint event with Chris Bohjalian, author of Hour of the Witch, in conversation with Wally Lamb on May 11 at 6pm via Savory Bookshop and Café / Bank Square Books.

– Upcoming Reads –
Ghosts of Harvard – Francesca Serritella (CW)
That Summer – Jennifer Weiner (EF)

– Author Spotlight with Dr. Melissa Homestead –
Dr. Homestead’s book is now available: The Only Wonderful Things: The Creative Partnership of Willa Cather & Edith Lewis
You can learn more about Dr. Homestead and her other publications here.

– 17th Readalong discussion –
Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer
The discussion will drop on June 8th via Episode 131, please get questions/comments to us by June 2nd.
The Goodreads discussion thread can be found HERE.
The Zoom discussion will take place on Sunday, May 30th at 7:00 p.m. (EST). If you would like to join in please send an email to save a spot.

You can find the beautifully bound anniversary edition of the book here. Note: this is in celebration of Milkweed Editions 40th anniversary, not the anniversary of the book which was originally published in 2013.

With Jenny / Reading Envy Podcast – we will be reading When the Light of the World Was Subdued, Our Songs Came Through: A Norton Anthology of Native Nations Poetry – edited by Joy Harjo, Jennifer Elise Foerster, and Leanne Howe

More details about the  readalong can be found on the Reading Envy Goodreads discussion thread.

Extra Credit: A Poetry Handbook by Mary Oliver

– Also Mentioned –
Check out our friend Ryan’s Instagram page: @readbyryan
Check out the Lost Kitchen website        
To Kill A Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Other books by Sarah Waters: Tipping the Velvet, Fingersmith, The Night Watch, The Little Stranger
Sarah Orne Jewett
Chronicling of America – Library of Congress Newspaper Directory
The Professor’s House – Willa Cather
Gay New York: Gender, Urban Culture, and the Making of Gay Male World, 1890-1940 – George Chauncey
The Lavender Scare: The Cold War, Persecution of Gays and Lesbians in the Federal Government – David K. Johnson
Epistemology of the Closet – Eve Kosofsky Sedgewick
My Antonia – Willa Cather
Stylish Academic Writing – Helen Sword
The Minister’s Wooing – Harriet Beecher Stowe

You can help support the Book Cougars via our affiliates:
Libro.fm audiobook platform: Follow
this link for the monthly membership. (promo code: bookcougars)
We are an affiliate of Bank Square Books and Savoy Bookstore & Café, click
HERE to start shopping.
Bookshop.org – support us and independent bookstores!

If you’d like to help financially support the Book Cougars, please consider becoming a Patreon member. You can DONATE HERE. If you would prefer to donate directly to us, please email bookcougars@gmail.com for instructions.

Join our Goodreads Group!

We have a BookTube Channel – please check it out
here, and be sure to subscribe!

Please subscribe to our email newsletter
here.