“A deftly intelligent literary thriller, Flight Risk is that rarest of beasts, beautifully written yet a real page-turner too. Wonderful.”

—S.J. Watson, author of the international bestseller Before I Go to Sleep

Patricia Engel was outstanding as our first guest on Writing Brilliant Essays, a free Zoom webinar series for anyone who loves to write or read.

Below please find the registration links for all our other episodes this fall. We'll host a stunning lineup of wonderful writers (and one book editor!) who'll talk with us about how they do their work.

Register now for any or all of the episodes, and you'll receive the Zoom links and reminders.

And if you're a writing teacher, you can have your students tune in, too.

Monday afternoons

5pm Eastern / 4pm Central / 3pm Mountain / 2pm Pacific

Beth Nguyen, author of Stealing Buddha's Dinner

We'll discuss Beth's powerful New Yorker essay, "America Ruined My Name for Me."

September 20

Join us by registering.

Matthew Salesses, author of Craft in the Real World

We'll discuss Matt's groundbreaking new book, Craft in the Real World (Catapult, 2021), which interrogates and decolonizes the supposedly neutral and universal dictates of craft and rethinks the power dynamics of the writing workshop.

September 27

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Amelia Montes, author of "Trigger Warnings"

We'll discuss Amelia's devastating essay "Trigger Warnings," included in the edited collection Don't Look Now: Things We Wish We Hadn't Seen.

October 4

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Elissa Washuta, author of White Magic

We'll discuss two of Elissa's fantastic essays: “Apocalypse Logic,” which appeared in The Offing, and "White Witchery," which was published in Guernica.

October 11

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Hope Wabuke, author of Please Don't Kill My Black

We'll discuss Hope's knockout Paris Review essay “The Pain of the KKK Joke” and “The Animal in the Yard,” which appeared in Creative Nonfiction.

October 18

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Chigozie Obioma, author of An Orchestra of

We'll discuss Chigozie's haunting essay in The Guardian, “The Ghosts of My Student Years in Northern Cyprus.”

November 8

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Tom Gannon, author of LifeLook

We'll discuss an excerpt from Tom's gorgeous memoir LifeLook: Confessions of a Crossblood Birder, forthcoming from the Machete series at the Ohio State University Press. (The excerpt's not yet available anywhere, so if you'd like to read a copy in advance, just email me, and I'll be happy to send you one.)

November 15

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Jerald Walker, author of How to Make a Slave

We'll discuss Jerald's thought-provoking essay "Designated Driver," along with his interview "No Angel with the Pen," both of which appeared in Harvard Review.

November 29

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Kristen Elias Rowley, Editor in Chief

21st Century Essays & Machete

Kristen will tell us all about what she looks for when she acquires collections of literary essays.

December 6

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