Pen Parentis Talks "First Generation"

Incredible writers are brought together with YOU the audience online to talk about current books, the profession of writing, craft, and life-work balance! This livecast event will feature short readings by three extraordinary Pen Parentis writers followed by a lively roundtable.

Tuesday February 9th at 7pm - meet three spectacular writers who are also parents.

THE WRITERS ARE:

TINA CHANG Brooklyn Poet Laureate, is the author of the poetry collections Hybrida (W.W. Norton, 2019), Of Gods & Strangers (2011, FWB), Half-Lit Houses (2004, FWB). She is also co-editor of the Norton anthology Language for a New Century: Contemporary Poetry from the Middle East, Asia, and Beyond (Norton). Her poems have been published in journals such as American Poet, McSweeney’s, The New York Times, and Ploughshares. She has received awards from the Academy of American Poets, the New York Foundation for the Arts, Poets & Writers, among others. She is the Director of Creative Writing at Binghamton University and lives in Brooklyn with her family. This is her second appearance at a Pen Parentis Literary Salon.

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KRISTOPHER JANSMA is the author of Why We Came to the City and The Unchangeable Spots of Leopards, winner of the Sherwood Anderson Foundation Fiction Award, a Pushcart Prize, and the recipient of an honorable mention for the PEN/Hemingway Award. He has written for the New York Times, Chicago Quarterly Review, ZYZZVA, The Believer, Prairie Schooner, and Electric Literature. His work has been noted as distinguished in The Best American Short Stories 2016 and The Best American Essays 2014. He is an Associate Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at SUNY New Paltz. He lives in Westchester with his wife and two children. We welcome Kris to Pen Parentis for a third time!

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ESTHER AMINI Esther Amini is a writer, painter, and psychoanalytic psychotherapist in private practice. Her short stories have appeared in Elle, Lilith, Tablet, The Jewish Week, Barnard Magazine, TK University’s Inscape Literary, Proximity, Paper Brigade, and Zibby Owens’ Anthology: “Moms Don’t Have Time To.” She was named one of Aspen Words’ two best emerging memoirists and awarded its Emerging Writer Fellowship in 2016 based on her memoir entitled: “Concealed.” Her pieces have been performed by Jewish Women’s Theatre in Los Angeles and in Manhattan, and was chosen by JWT as their Artist-in-Residence in 2019. Kirkus Reviews has named “Concealed” one of the best 2020 Indie Books, and ChaiFlicks, (Jewish Netflix), is presently streaming an excerpt from “Concealed” called AM-REE-KAH.


The Pen Parentis Literary Salon is a unique series that shatters parental stereotypes as it celebrates the diverse creative work of writers that are also parents. On the second Tuesday of each month September through May, join us online! Chat with our authors, be heard! Participate in discussions with writers in real time.

Readings by small groups of exemplary authors, writers, and poets (all are parents, usually organized by a theme) are followed by lively roundtable discussions moderated by Pen Parentis founder M. M. De Voe and Salons curator Christina Chiu. Come join the fun! You don’t have to be a parent or even a writer to enjoy these events - all lovers of the written word are welcome to join us!

Salons moderators are former Columbia School of the Arts classmates, M. M. De Voe, and Christina Chiu.

In addition to founding Pen Parentis, M. M. De Voe is a Pushcart-nominated author of short fiction, with work in the Shirley Jackson Award winning anthology Twisted Book of Shadows and in literary journals in Israel, Great Britain, Canada, and the US, and in the anthology Delirium Corridors. Her first full-length nonfiction: Book &Baby: The Complete Guide to Managing Chaos & Becoming a Wildly Successful Writer-Parent is forthcoming from Brooklyn Writers Press on January 13, 2021.

Christina Chiu has been Salons curator for five years. Her second novel, Beauty, was published in 2020 after winning the James Alan McPherson Award. It was listed as one of the top novels of 2020 by Kirkus. She is also one of the originators of the Asian American Writers Workshop.

Audience members are encouraged to engage with the authors and moderators during the session via chat while logged into YouTube or Facebook accounts.

BUY THEIR BOOKS THROUGH THIS LINK and your purchase will support Pen Parentis as well as an indie bookstore near you, wherever you are.

For eleven years this series has shattered negative stereotypes of parents in literary careers by celebrating the creative diversity of high-quality work penned by professional writers who have kids.

Pen Parentis is a literary nonprofit that helps writers stay on creative track after starting a family. While the event is free and open to the general public, we would welcome a minimum $10 donation per attendee to cover costs.

This PEN PARENTIS LITERARY SALON is made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by LMCC.

If you have reached for a good movie or book at any time during this pandemic, thank a writer. Support the arts so they can support you.