New York friends, the Brooklyn Caribbean Lit Festival is next week. This year’s theme: Root & Remedy—Prescriptions for an Uncertain World. Come for the stories and the community, and a little healing. Sept. 5 - 7 at the Center for Fiction.

My second novel is 5 years old today. This is the worn, marked-up copy that I read from. Still love this cover and how it reps each character: Plum, searching for her daughter; Lenworth, who can’t bear to look at his own daughter’s face; and Opal herself, uncertain of her own place in the world.

There’s much to be said about the power of community, especially for us writers who work largely in isolation. So I’m happy to join The Writers Center’s Publish Now Conference on March 8 for the “You Can’t Do It Alone: The Importance of Literary Community” panel. Details at writer.org