Rosanna Xia is the author of California Against the Sea, which examines the future of our vanishing coastline in the face of rising water. She is also an environment reporter for the Los Angeles Times, where she specializes in stories about the coast and ocean. She was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2020 for explanatory reporting, and her coverage of a toxic dumpsite in the deep ocean has been featured in the “Best American Science and Nature Writing” anthology. Originally from Massachusetts, Xia now lives in California.

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To read the full interview, visit Fiction Advocate and be sure to check out the previous installments of Non-Fiction about Non-Humans with Bethany Brookshire, Sabrina Imbler, Erica Berry, Tove Danovich, Karen Fine, Jaime Green, Cat Warren, Gloria Dickie, and Karen Pinchin!

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I am thrilled to share I have a new essay published in Off Assignment as part of their Letter to a Stranger series. Read “To the Iditarod Man” here, and also check out my “Behind the Essay” interview for the Off Assignment newsletter as well! Thank you so much to editors Colleen Kinder and Aube Rey Lescure for giving this essay a home.

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I am over the moon to have Good Grief: On Loving Pets, Here and Hereafter featured in The Boston Globe: “In new book, local author explores loving and losing our beloved pets.”

Thank you to Globe reporter Cindy Cantrell for attending my Tewksbury Public Library talk and being inspired to write the story, and to photographer Jonathan Wiggs for taking such an amazing portrait of me, Terrence, and Seymour!

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I am so honored to announce that I have been chosen to be the Roslindale Book Ambassador for September & October 2022!!! You can check out my list of recommended reading on Rozzie Bound Co-op’s Bookshop.org page, and on Thursday 10/27 at 6pm EDT I will be giving an author talk at the Roslindale branch of the Boston Public Library. Thank you for choosing me, Rozzie!!!

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I can’t believe it has been a month. It both flew by and also felt like the longest month of my life. More below on everything that has happened since 8/2! But thank you to everyone who preordered the book, purchased the book once it was out, showed up at an event either virtually or in-person, posted about Good Grief on social media, texted my mom when they heard me on NPR, snapped a photo when they spotted Good Grief  “in the wild” (please NEVER STOP sending me pictures when you see Good Grief in bookstores or libraries, it makes me so happy), and/or sent me an email, DM, text, or other kind of message about how much the book meant to them. All I can say is I have been completely overwhelmed in the best possible way. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

So much has happened since Good Grief came out on 8/2. First, here is a list of all the wonderful interviews, essays, media coverage, reviews, etc. that have come out in the past month. Seriously, it has only been a month???? How????

• Good Grief has been reviewed favorably in Kirkus, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, Shelf Awareness, The Wellesley News, Booklist, and The Washington Independent Review of Books.
• Good Grief was recommended in reading lists from Book Riot, Literary Hub, Wellesley Magazine, and the New Castle Public Library, plus veterinarian Karen Fine includes Good Grief in the list of pet loss resources on her website.
• You can read an excerpt of Good Grief on Literary Hub!
• The 8/2 Good Grief launch event got a shout-out in the Boston Globe!
• I got to speak about Good Grief on several different podcasts including Library Love Fest (in conversation with Ivy Givens), Writer’s Bone (in conversation with Daniel Ford and Kelly J. Ford, who are not related), Debut Spotlight (in conversation with Rachel Barenbaum), and Dog Talk (in conversation with Tracie Hotchner a.k.a. the Radio Pet Lady).
• My essay “The Heart of a Professor” (about the way one of my college professors showed me great empathy when I had to euthanize my childhood dog Gus)as the Endnotes essay in the summer 2022 issue of Wellesley Magazine.
• Good Grief got a write-up in my hometown local newspaper, The Lexington Minuteman!
• “Ashes to Ashes, Pet to Plant” is my essay for Slate’s Future Tense series about the new industry of pet composting. Thanks to editor Jaime Green for her wise feedback on that piece!
• I was interviewed by the great biologist Marc Bekoff for Psychology Today!
• I also did an interview for AKC.org! Thanks to journalist Ranny Green for taking the time to speak with me for it.
• My essay about #MassAveLola ran on Cognoscenti. Thank you to editor Sara Shukla for giving Lola a home on WBUR!
• I also had an essay about learning to love and let go when it comes to pet pigeons run on Salon!
• The legendary Chewy.com featured Good Grief on their blog Be.Chewy. Thanks to journalist Alyssa Sparacino for writing the piece, and to Lindsey Bluher for getting it set up in the first place, which is full of really helpful concrete tips if you are going through pet loss. It’s a great resource!
• Nicole Graev Lipson took the time to talk to me about Good Grief for the Chicago Review of Books! Thank you, Nicole!
• The Noble & Greenough School, my high school alma mater and former employer, featured Good Grief in the summer issue of their alumni magazine, complete with gorgeous illustrations by John Jay Cabuay.
• The tables turned and Fiction Advocate editor Brian Hurley interviewed me for the August installment of Non-Fiction by Non-Men!
• And Good Grief was featured on NPR’s Here & Now! I got to go into the WBUR studios for my interview with Peter O’Dowd (see above). It was like doing college radio on steroids. My years of WZLY prepared me for this!!!!

In the past month, I did eleven Good Grief events: nine were in person, two were virtual, five were in Massachusetts, one was in New Hampshire, and three were in California. They were hosted by six different indie bookstores (Porter Square Books, Once Upon A Time Bookstore, Toadstool Bookshop, Newtonville Books, Tatnuck Bookseller, and An Unlikely Story), one library (Tewksbury Public), two organizations (The Order of the Good Death and the Wellesley College Club of Los Angeles), one book club (People Who Read Darkness!), and one oddities shop (Memento Mori Los Angeles). I got to be in conversation with Kelly J. Ford, Cat Warren, Sy Montgomery, Chloe Shaw, and Karen Fine. I got to see SO many people I love who came out to support me — far too many to name here, though special shout-outs go to Rachel Barenbaum (for the beautiful introduction at my launch), Erin Greene (who traveled up from NYC to be there on 8/2), Lee Ung (for attending every single one of my West Coast events), Karen and Rich Bartels (for attending almost every single one of my East Coast events, and, in their defense, they would have been at every one but I told them to skip 8/24 because they were tired), and the great Richie Corrado (for his toast at my launch that made everyone cry). If you missed any of these events and are bummed about it, don’t worry! There are recordings of several of them:

• Click here to watch the recording of my 8/2 launch at GrubStreet / Porter Square Books: Boston Edition, in conversation with Kelly J. Ford.
• Click here to watch the recording of my 8/17 virtual event with the Tewksbury Public Library, in conversation Chloe Shaw.
• Click here to watch the recording of my 8/24 event at An Unlikely Story in Plainville, MA.
• Plus a recording of my 8/3 conversation with Cat Warren is available to members of The Order of the Good Death, so become a member today to watch!

But don’t worry!!! I am totally exhausted but that doesn’t mean I don’t have MORE great things planned for September, October, and beyond! Below is a list of all my upcoming events, and be sure to keep checking the events page on my website for the most up-to-date into. (I promise the page will load now! I know there was a bug before, sorry!) All of the below events are in-person unless they are labeled ***VIRTUAL***.

SEPTEMBER:

• TOMORROW!!!!!! Saturday 9/3, 3:00pm EDT: Homecoming event at the Fishers Island Library on Fishers Island, NY!
• Wednesday 9/7, 7:00pm EDT: I get to be in conversation with Kelly J. Ford for the launch of her second novel Real Bad Things at Harvard Book Store in Cambridge, MA!
• Tuesday 9/13, 6:30pm EDT: Author event at Gibson’s in Concord, NH! (Thank you to Sue Smith for setting that one up!)
• Thursday 9/15, 5:00pm EDT: Local Author Book Fair at new indie bookstore Hummingbird Books in Chestnut Hill, MA!
• Sunday 9/18, 4:00pm EDT: ***VIRTUAL*** author talk with the Perfect Paws Pet Ministry!
• Tuesday 9/20, 7:00pm EDT: Author event at Water Street Bookstore in Exeter, NH! (Thank you to Sue Smith for setting that one up!)
• Wednesday 9/21, 7:00pm EDT: Atomic Anna x Good Grief event at Belmont Books in Belmont, MA, where I’ll be in conversation with Rachel Barenbaum!
• Monday 9/26, 7:00pm EDT: ***VIRTUAL*** event with Morbid Anatomy, in conversation with Annie Hartnett! Click here to register.
• Wednesday 9/28, 8:00am EDT: Presentation in assembly at the Noble & Greenough School, followed by a guided tour of the Pine Ridge Pet Cemetery!
• Thursday 9/29, 7:00pm EDT: Part of the Books and Buzz series at Brewster Book Store on the Cape (fundraiser for the Animal Rescue League of Boston)!

OCTOBER:

• Tuesday 10/4, 7:00pm EDT: I get to be in conversation with Rita Zoey Chin for the launch of her debut novel The Strange Inheritance of Leah Fern at Wellesley Books in Wellesley, MA!
• Thursday 10/6, 12:30pm EDT: Visit to professor Christine Carpenter‘s class “The Power of Pets” at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire!
• Thursday 10/20, 8:00pm EDT: “Burgers & Books” party at Tasty Burger in Harvard Square celebrating four GrubStreet authors with 2022 books: Neema Avashia, Rachel Barenbaum, Kelly J. Ford, and me!
• Thursday 10/27, 6:00pm EDT: I’m honored to share that I’ve been chosen to be the Roslindale Book Ambassador for September + October 2022! On this Thursday, I will have a “Conversation with the Author” event from 6:00pm-7:00pm, followed by a book signing from 7:00pm-7:30pm, at the Roslindale Branch of the Boston Public Library.
• Sunday 10/30, 1:00pm EDT: Session on “Writing Collections: Short Stories and Essays” with Thomas McNeely as part of the Concord Festival of Authors, at the Concord Free Public Library.

NOVEMBER:

• Thursday 11/3, 7:00pm EDT: Book event in New York City at McNally Jackson’s Seaport location (4 Fulton Street)! I will be in conversation with the artist Heide Hatry, and a reception will follow at McNally Jackson Seaport’s new snazzy cocktail bar!

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I got to write a feature story profiling conductor Jeri Lynne Johnson ’93!

I had my first ever photo credit with a shot I took on Marathon Monday! 

Good Grief got a mention in the Fresh Ink section! (Right next to my friend Shelly!)

And I had the honor of writing the Endnote essay which is, unsurprisingly, about pet death. Enjoy!

The post The summer 2022 issue of Wellesley magazine is live! appeared first on E.B. Bartels.

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Judy Bolton-Fasman is the author of Asylum: A Memoir of Family Secrets. Her essays and reviews have appeared in major newspapers, essay anthologies, and literary magazines. She is the recipient of numerous writing fellowships, and a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee.

This month’s guest Non-Fiction by Non-Men interviewer is Jane Kokernak. She works and teaches scientific writing at Northeastern University. Her essays have published in Pangyrus, Bellevue Literary Review, Technology Review, Medium, and elsewhere.

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When I was hired to write for Wellesley College last spring, one of the first stories I pitched was this one in honor of WZLY’s 80th birthday and now it is finally up! Read the story here. Thank you to all the radio alums and current DJs who spoke with me for it! love you all.

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FUN FACT 2: Today through 4/22 on the Barnes & Noble website you can get 25% off preorders (use code PREORDER25) so it’s a GREAT time to order GOOD GRIEF!

As incentive to preorder, here is a photo from said birthday party. I am wearing an XL lavender sweatshirt that says BOOK GODDESS on it that I desperately wish I still owned:

The post Preorder GOOD GRIEF on the Barnes & Nobles website for 25% off! 4/20-4/22 appeared first on E.B. Bartels.

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Neema Avashia was born and raised in southern West Virginia to parents who immigrated to the United States from India. Her essay collection, Another Appalachia, attempts to reconcile her nostalgia for the place she grew up with the troubling realities of unemployment and addiction that confront the state today, while exploring how the lessons she learned in childhood continue to shape her identity in the present.

Avashia has been a history and Civics teacher in the Boston Public Schools since 2003, and often writes opinion pieces and commentary regarding her experiences as an educator. Her essays have appeared in The Bitter Southerner, Catapult, Kenyon Review Online, and elsewhere.

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