Read on Twitter
I love reading other people's year-end "here's what I published" threads, but I want to do mine a little differently. This is a "what we published" thread about writers I know, or whose work I love, who have done extraordinary things this year (all links from @BookPeople).
It's not secret if you follow me on Twitter that @kaokaliayang is one of my favorite writers and her latest, SOMEWHERE IN THE UNKNOWN WORLD was no exception; I can't get over how punchy and powerful each short narrative essay was: https://bit.ly/3816CHv
One of the great joys of this year for me was getting to know Ahmed M. Badr ( @uBadr), whose WHILE THE EARTH SLEEPS WE TRAVEL debuted this year. This book is as generative and generous as Ahmed is, and the start of a stunning writing career: https://bit.ly/3qTYTDH
I'm not sure I recommend any book more than I do @DinaNayeri's THE UNGRATEFUL REFUGEE and it came out in paperback this year with @CatapultStory, so I'm counting it. It's the kind of book that you will need to marinate in, so set aside some time: https://bit.ly/2KmZj4S
When I published my "Displaced Voices" column with @catapultstory, I worked with @MeghaMaj and have watched in utter joy as A BURNING takes over the world. There are few people who are as kind as they are brilliant, and Megha is in that rare group: https://bit.ly/2WcQInZ
BELABORED by @lyzl is just the next installment in Lyz's plan (I sincerely hope) to take over the writing world. Her work defies categorization; it's journalistic and personal, funny and profound, and I'm always eager to read whatever's next: https://bit.ly/3a7tY0R
I've been in a writing group with five other women who carry me through every season of life and this year, ALL SIX OF US published books. The next tweets are about them:
AWAKENED BY DEATH by @ChristianaNPete is an unflinching look at the history of dying in the US and other cultures, and a call for us to face with courage the one thing that will happen to all humans. It's so timely; it's also poignant and funny in turn: https://bit.ly/2JUgqv1
BLESSED ARE THE NONES by @stina_kc is lyrical and introspective as she explores spirituality and relationships in a world that is ever shifting. Many of her phrases rise in my mind like poetry, long after I read finished the book: https://bit.ly/37Wzhxa
DEFIANT by @knikondeha holds no punches. It is clarifying and edifying and delightful, all at once. Kelley's work (and life) focus on oppression and liberation and the reality that none of us can be free if all of us are not free: https://bit.ly/3mdMVRO
WHERE GOODNESS STILL GROWS by @amylpeterson is the book for anyone who wants to understand the underpinnings of Christian nationalism but also wants to know that we can move forward. It is full of sorrow and, in a fundamentally non-cheesy way, real hope: https://bit.ly/3gOno0u
THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN DREAM by @d_l_mayfield is a stark look at the oppressive nature of American Christianity's history of systemic racism and classism and its damage to real people; she doesn't flinch even when she turns her gaze on herself: https://bit.ly/387s9y2
One of the coolest requests of my life was when the NYT Book Review asked me to review a book; it was Jordan Ritter-Conn's THE ROAD FROM RAQQA and I wept (that's probably not professional, but this book is extraordinary): https://nyti.ms/3gO4eI0
My book with Hasna and Mu Naw came out in August; AFTER THE LAST BORDER: TWO FAMILIES AND THE STORY OF REFUGE IN AMERICA took years of painstaking work by these two extraordinary women and I hope you'll read it to hear what they want you to hear: https://bit.ly/34czsDE
My top three publications this year were book excerpts.
For the New York Times: https://nyti.ms/2LvViLL
For Texas Monthly: https://bit.ly/2LCgUq0
For LitHub: https://bit.ly/3oPG2I6
For the New York Times: https://nyti.ms/2LvViLL
For Texas Monthly: https://bit.ly/2LCgUq0
For LitHub: https://bit.ly/3oPG2I6
