Feminist Press authors on their publishing debuts, what they’ve learned about the process, and the communities that supported them.
About this event
Join Feminist Press’s Young Feminist Leaders Council for a drink and publishing panel discussion on Tuesday, November 9 at 8pm EST, featuring FP authors YZ Chin, Cassandra Lane, and Megan Milks, and FP Interim Executive Director and Publisher Lauren Rosemary Hook. Our Zoom conversation will be moderated by YFLC member Alex Johnson and will include an audience Q&A with the authors.
Come together with other aspiring authors and literary fanatics to hear from three published authors on how they have navigated the industry—from academia, to magazines, to independent publishers like Feminist Press. We will discuss how they got started with publishing their work, how to build connections and communities, and what steps you can take to get your own writing into the world.
Joining us for a drink? We recommend our PRESSed Punch!
PRESSed Punch Recipe
Ingredients:
2 oz vodka (for a non-alcohol version, omit vodka and add seltzer or tonic water!)
2 oz apple cider
4 oz ginger beer
seltzer
(Optional) garnish
Instructions: Add vodka, apple cider, and ginger beer to a glass with ice. Stir to mix and add seltzer to taste. Optionally garnish your glass with one of the following: orange peel, apple slice, fresh herbs, or a cinnamon sugar rim.
Share your thoughts on the panel and a photo of our signature drink by tagging @FeministPress and #YFLC!
Panelist Bios
Support the featured authors by purchasing a copy of their books from their favorite local bookstores in the links below!
YZ Chin is the author of Edge Case, a New York Times Editors' Choice. She also wrote Though I Get Home, which won the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize and the Asian/Pacific American Award For Literature honor title. Her writing has been published in Guernica, Harvard Review, Gulf Coast, Electric Literature, Lit Hub, and elsewhere. Born and raised in Malaysia, she now lives in New York, where she worked most recently as a software engineer. Purchase her books from her local bookstore Books Are Magic!
A Louisiana native, Cassandra Lane is a writer and editor based in Los Angeles. She is winner of the Louise Meriwether First Book Prize and author of We Are Bridges: A Memoir , which NPR calls “a stunning contribution to what must become our collective memory.” Lane received her MFA from Antioch University LA. She formerly worked as a newspaper reporter, high school English and journalism teacher, college admissions advisor, senior writer, and community relations manager for the Dodgers. Her stories have appeared in the New York Times’s “Conception” series, the Times-Picayune, the Atlanta Journal Constitution, and elsewhere. She is editor in chief of L.A. Parent magazine. Purchase her book from her local bookstore Community Book Center!
Megan Milks is the author of the novel Margaret and the Mystery of the Missing Body and Slug and Other Stories, both out in Fall 2021 from Feminist Press. Their personal history of the early internet, Tori Amos Bootleg Webring, is now out from Instar Books as part of the Remember the Internet series. With Marisa Crawford, they co-edited We are the Baby-Sitters Club: Essays and Artwork from Grown-Up Readers. Born in Virginia, they currently live in Brooklyn. Purchase their books from their local bookstore Bureau of General Services—Queer Division!
Lauren Rosemary Hook is the interim executive director and publisher of the Feminist Press. As an editor, she seeks to continue FP's long legacy of publishing diverse international feminist works and has acquired titles in translation from Equatorial Guinea, Thailand, Mexico, and Croatia, among others. She also acquires and edits many English-language fiction and nonfiction titles, including the Amethyst Editions imprint, founded by Michelle Tea.
Alexandra (Alex) Johnson is a recent graduate of the Graduate Center, CUNY with a MA in Women's and Gender Studies, and currently works as an adjunct professor of philosophy at SUNY Purchase. She also holds a BA in philosophy from SUNY Purchase and a BA in media and communication from the University of Southern Maine. Alex works as a part of many feminist spaces including as an office assistant for the National Women's Studies Association, and as a part of the editorial team for Women's Studies Quarterly and Feminist Anthropology. Alex is also a co-chair for the Pop Culture Interest group at the NWSA, an inaugural member of the Feminist Press's Young Feminist Leadership Council, and she runs the annual 16 Stories campaign that features feminist activism.