I Don't Hate It | Ladies & Justice
Hey there. Is this your first time receiving this newsletter? It should arrive on Friday afternoons, but this one is a day late because I am attending the Association of Writers and Writing Programs annual conference, held in Los Angeles this year. I tend not to write these very far in advance—forty-eight hours at most—and this week has been nutty. Just go-go-go. Plus the convention center wifi hasn't been all that reliable until today. But you know? No apologies. Here is your newsletter. It's a good one, if a day later than usual.
1. Two weeks ago, I attended Bryan Stevenson's keynote at the Virginia Festival of the Book, an event I wrote a little bit about in my last newsletter. Stevenson is the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, and he has dedicated his life to defending the most desperate. "Hopelessness is the enemy of justice," he said, before receiving a standing ovation. I've been reading Stevenson's book, Just Mercy, and after hearing him speak I'm able to experience the narrative through his voice. Good news for audiobook lovers, too: Stevenson narrates the audio version. (JoJo, thank you for your email; I promise we will return to the topic of audiobooks in a future newsletter!)
2. I'm cheating on the second and third recommendations this week: I reviewed Rebecca Traister's new book All the Single Ladies along with the paperback release of Kate Bolick's Spinster in the Spring issue of VQR, which is available now. Check it out here. And then subscribe to VQR! (Lit Hub linked to the review yesterday and made my day/week/life.)