One of the ways in which mothering has been directly, specifically useful for my writing is that I got to do a lot of reading aloud. I practiced first as a kid, on my younger sister. Later it was something that I loved about having children of my own. So I’m honored that David Naimon […]

“There’s a saying that there are only two stories: a person goes on a journey and a stranger comes to town. I knew my story: I was the stranger who came to town. But when my children came, I was no longer a stranger, or even at the center of my own story. In this […]

I finally got to see the amazing Alice Neel show, in San Francisco, with my mother, Kit Phillips, who should have been in the picture with me but was taking it instead. I have two in-person readings coming up. On Tuesday, May 31, at 6pm I’ll be at Elliott Bay Books in Seattle. On Wednesday, […]

A Room of One’s Own Books in Madison, WI, will host my online book launch on April 27, 6pm US Central Time, in conversation with Chris Kraus, author of the brilliant After Kathy Acker. We’re going to talk about motherhood, not-motherhood, artistic lives, and the art of biography. It’s 1 in the morning Amsterdam time, […]

As soon as The Baby on the Fire Escape comes out, I plan to start working on the biography of Ursula K. Le Guin. After talking to several wonderful editors I recently found homes for that book at Doubleday (US) and Virago (UK). I’m excited to be working with Thomas Gebremedhin and Rose Tomaszewska respectively. […]

My second book is coming out in April! A meditation on maternal identity and artistic greatness, The Baby on the Fire Escape illuminates some of the most pressing conflicts in contemporary life.

This week I talked about Ursula K. Le Guin with host Trevor Chappell on Australia’s ABC radio. It was the late-night program, so I was grateful to be able to do it from a different time zone. I talked a bit about Ursula’s visit to Melbourne…

In recent weeks I’ve seen a discussion taking place around the names of literary awards, with many arguing that awards should not be named after people. One of those awards is the Tiptree. I haven’t wanted to say much about this, mainly because I’m in the middle of revisions for the book that ate my […]

Writer-director Maureen Huskey’s play based on the life and work of James Tiptree Jr. premieres in Los Angeles, October 27, 2018. “Dodging in and out of reality, the play investigates gender, longing and creativity as self-exploration through one of the science fiction world’s greatest literary tricksters.” This play has been in the works for some […]

On June 13 in Portland, OR, Literary Arts brought a terrific lineup of writers together to speak about Ursula Le Guin’s life and work. The evening included family photos, clips from Arwen Curry’s documentary Worlds of Ursula K. Le Guin, and a dragon at the end. The speakers remembered Ursula the teacher, builder of bridges, […]