By Jeremy Wang-Iverson
[Update: The Secret Lives of Church Ladies is a finalist for the National Book Award! The ceremony will be held on 11/18/20.]
Deesha Philyaw’s virtual tour for The Secret Lives of Church Ladies – longlisted for the National Book Award in fiction – begins today at Malaprop’s, with a dozen events this fall at independent bookstores and festivals around the country.
“Indie bookstores shape so much of what we do, and never more than with Deesha Philyaw’s The Secret Lives of Church Ladies,” said Derek Krissoff, director of West Virginia University Press. “And I like to think the sensibility of indies crept into how we published it.”
The short story collection – Philyaw’s fiction debut – is currently in its third printing with an audio version due from Tantor Media in December. Philyaw is represented by Danielle Chiotti at Upstart Crow Literary.
Wednesday, September 23, 6pm ET
Malaprop’s Bookstore (with Nafissa Thompson-Spires)
Register here
Tuesday, September 29, 7pm ET
Penguin Bookshop (with Yona Harvey)
Register here
Wednesday, September 30, 7pm ET
Source Booksellers & The Tuxedo Project (with Bridgett Davis)
Register here
Sunday, October 4, 12pm ET
Brooklyn Book Festival (with Marie-Helene Bertino, Sarah Gerard, Peter Kispert, and Kendall Storey.)
Register here
Thursday, October 8, 7:30 PM ET
Special event with Honorée Fanonne Jeffers.
Register here
Saturday, October 10, 5:15pm ET
Southern Festival of Books (with Ashleigh Bryant Phillips)
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Tuesday, October 13
Charis Books and More (with Tamara Winfrey-Harris)
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Deesha Philyaw reads a section from “When Eddie Levert Comes,” the final story in The Secret Lives of Church Ladies. Electric Lit published the story with an introduction from Rion Amilcar Scott, who said “In another, lesser story, the soul singer shows up bathed in soft, hazy light, a magical deus ex machina delivering mother and daughter from their emotional wreckage. That would be an easy bow to wrap around the story. What Philyaw gives us here is more complex, a reckoning that is ultimately more beautiful.”
Saturday, October 17, 1pm ET
Brattleboro Literary Festival (with Kelli Jo Ford)
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Sunday, October 18, 5pm ET
Free Association Reading at City of Asylum
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Thursday, October 22, 6pm ET
Loyalty Bookstores (with Adam Smyer)
Register here
Friday, October 23
Union Ave Books & The Bookshop at the Bottom
TBA
Wednesday, October 28
Greenlight Bookstore (with Kiese Laymon)
Register here
Monday, November 2, 6-10pm
The Revival: A Virtual Celebration (with Kiese Laymon)
TBA
Saturday, November 14
Texas Book Festival
TBA
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies playlist, 30 songs selected by Deesha Philyaw, starting off with Nina Simone’s Nobody’s Fault But Mine–
Deesha Philyaw’s writing on race, parenting, gender, and culture has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, McSweeney’s, the Rumpus, Brevity, Apogee Journal, Barrelhouse, Baltimore Review, Cheat River Review, Electric Literature, Harvard Review, and elsewhere. Originally from Jacksonville, Florida, she currently lives in Pittsburgh with her daughters. Visit her website: deeshaphilyaw.com and follow her on Twitter and Instagram @DeeshaPhilyaw.