Things I did this week instead of working on my novel
Went to the Authors Guild Foundation Gala afterparty, where I got to gush all over Marie-Helene Bertino about how Parakeet is a perfect novel. (Thank you to Jen Lue for the invite!)
Saw Quinn Raymond play at La Palapa. My favorite song of the evening was called NYC Mayors, which begins: “NYC mayors, by and large are failures.” Quinn made a zine reminding everyone when to vote — if you, like me, would like to oust our current failed NYC mayor1, primary election day is Tuesday, June 24! Zohran Mamdani wants to freeze rent, make buses free, expand affordable housing, and start universal free childcare at 6 weeks. These are the policies our city deserves. If you live here, PLEASE VOTE IN THE PRIMARY.
Filed an interview with Arianna Rebolini, which will run later this month in Chicago Review of Books. To mark the publication of her book Better: A Memoir About Wanting to Die, which comes out April 29, Arianna ALSO made a zine. It’s called Better: A Zine About Wanting to Live, and I *think* she will be giving them out at her Books Are Magic launch…
This week in writing
I did actually work on the novel a bit. I’m not in a daily groove with it right now, and that groove is not coming this week because NYC schools are on ~*~spring break~*~ but I trust the time is near! Living on faith, baby.
This week in reading
I’m reading Us Fools by Nora Lange and it is very good. I’ve started so many novels recently and this is the first in a while that gives me the can’t-wait-to-get-back-to-it feeling. I love that feeling!
I’m also listening to Abundance by Ezra Klein and Derek Thompson. The ideas won’t be new to folks who follow one or both of these guys already, but I’m glad they put it all together into one cohesive argument for policies that will help build affordable housing and clean energy infrastructure because it feels like a political platform that someone could pick up and run on… which I hope they do.
This week in Leave news
We have more events coming up!
See some of you there!
Love,
Shayne
You have probably heard about the many failures of Eric Adams but one of his biggest failures in my mind came when he was Brooklyn Borough President and told New Yorkers who weren’t born here to “go back to Ohio” and “go back to Iowa.” A failure of imagination about what makes this city great, a failure to unite us and, instead, a choice to divide us. Good riddance to this small-minded man.