Book Launch! "Esquire Ball" by Lisa Slage Robinson (w/ Mark Flaherty)

We are so thrilled to be the launch site for an exciting local debut: Lisa Slage Robinson's short story collection, Esquire Ball, Stories from the Great Black Swamp. Lisa will be joined in conversation by Mark Flaherty, and they will be introduced by author Sherrie Flick.

With a nod to Borges, Kafka, and Daphne du Maurier, Esquire Ball, Stories from the Great Black Swamp is a Midwestern gothic collection of thirteen linked stories in which a young female attorney discovers what it takes to succeed. In this debut collection, set primarily in 1980s Northwest Ohio, ambitious men marry frog wives; a mother-daughter duo trap souls in farmhouse windows; a teenager drowns in a sea of corn; an associate breaks into a client’s house to steal a token of remembrance; and a PhD candidate reveals the secrets of the universe while having a threesome with her boyfriend and a tree. Through the lens of magical feminism, and braiding in fairytales and mythology, Esquire Ball examines the gray side of ethics, the tyranny of ambition, and the collateral damage left in its wake.

LISA SLAGE ROBINSON writes to explore invisible landscapes and magical feminism. She is the author of Esquire Ball, Stories from the Great Black Swamp (Black Lawrence Press, February 10, 2026). Named a finalist for Midwest Review’s Great Midwest Fiction Contest, her work appears in Iron Horse Literary Review, Atticus Review, Smokelong Quarterly, The Adroit Journal, PRISM International, Storm Cellar, Lit Pub, Necessary Fiction, Meat for Tea, and elsewhere. Lisa serves as a board member for Autumn House Press. A graduate of Bowling Green State University and Case Western Reserve University School of Law, she holds an MFA from Chatham University. A former corporate attorney and litigator, Lisa practiced law in both the States and Canada. She lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and keeps the lights on for their daughters who live in LA and NYC but love to come home.
MARK F. FLAHERTY is a recently retired lawyer, representing members of the beverage alcohol and hospitality industries nationwide for nearly 40 years. His firm made it possible for Pennsylvanians to buy beer and wine in grocery and convenience stores. When asked what he’s going to do in retirement, his general response is “Read for Pleasure. Play the Piano. Dine Opulently.” He and his wife, Mary McKinney Flaherty have the privilege of serving as board members for the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and are supporters of the city’s many wonderful visual and performing arts organizations. They are happy city mice, residing in Pittsburgh’s East End.
SHERRIE FLICK is the recipient of the 2025 McGee Distinguished Professor in Creative Writing at Davidson College and a 2023 Creative Development Grant from the Heinz Endowments and a Writing Pittsburgh fellowship from the Creative Nonfiction Foundation. She served as co-editor for the Norton anthology Flash Fiction America and series editor for The Best Small Fictions 2018 (Braddock Avenue Books). Her third story collection, I Have Not Considered Consequences, was published by Autumn House Press. Her other works include the essay collection Homing: Instincts of a Rustbelt Feminist (University of Nebraska Press), Thank Your Lucky Stars: Short Stories (Autumn House), Whiskey, Etc.: Short (Short) Stories (Autumn House), and Reconsidering Happiness: A Novel (University of Nebraska Press). She lives in Pittsburgh.

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