Hi friends, it’s been a BUSY pub month. Thank you to everyone who has bought my book, attended one of my events, read with me, shared one of my posts, or otherwise supported me through this crazy time. Here are some updates from the last month, upcoming events, and recordings of past events ICYMI.
Features, reviews, & interviews
- For Literary Hub, I wrote “How to Write an Obituary For Your Mother,” an essay meditating on language and grief.
- For the Poetry Foundation/Harriet Books, Ryo Yamaguchi wrote a lovely micro-review of Focal Point.
- Interviews in ZYZZYZVA, Sine Theta, and The Racket about science, grief, a sense of place, and more.
- For Full Stop, my longtime friend Kelly Swope wrote an expansive and thoughtful review that made me feel so seen: “Focal Point, like the Greek epics it frequently references, is… an inner odyssey through illness and loss that imparts the difficult lesson that to live is to grieve.”
- From Vitni Review: “If contemporary grief writing can be characterized as an ongoing conversation concerning tradition, memory, and death, then Focal Point is among the strongest examples of poets writing on those topics today, and one of the most intriguing poetic debuts in recent years.”
- Focal Point was featured in this roundup in the Washington Independent Review of Books
Events (learn more here)
- 11/15 7pm PT: Odd Mondays Reading Series (VIRTUAL)
- 11/22 6pm PT: Book Jewel in Los Angeles (IN-PERSON)
- 11/30 6pm PT: Nomadic Press (VIRTUAL)
- 12/15: Bellevue Literary Review panel (recorded)
Because we are in a Zoom world these days, a lot of my past events have been recorded, so you can watch if you missed them in real time:
You can also find my reading with Teresa K. Miller at Green Apple Books, my reading and conversation with LJ Moore-McClelland for the UCSF Alumni Author Series, & my Rattlecast episode.
Newsletter
I started a Mailchimp newsletter last month and will use that to send (very occasional) event updates directly to your inbox. Here’s the first one with an option to subscribe if you’re interested. I’ll probably send out another email in January to announce my spring 2022 events. If you follow this blog, you can also get these monthly-ish updates in your inbox.
Until next time.
Jenny Qi, Ph.D. 