In-Store: Michele Filgate presents What My Father and I Don't Talk About

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A follow-up to the wildly successful What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About, this collection of essays from sixteen notable writers breaks the silence on the complex—and sometimes contentious—relationships we have with our fathers.
What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About has become a rare gem in the literary world. Both a viral sensation online and chosen by Oprah Daily as one of the best nonfiction books of the past two decades, it is an essential collection that dives into the personal and poignant topics we often struggle to discuss with those who are meant to know and love us best.
This captivating follow-up, edited by Michele Filgate, tackles the intricate and challenging relationships we have with our dads, breaking the silence around these vital connections. Andrew Altschul reflects on the life-altering experience of becoming a father and how it reshaped his view of his own dad’s parenting. Isle McElroy shares memories of weekends spent tagging along as their father fixed up the homes of their wealthier neighbors. Jaquira Díaz delves into her father’s history in 1970s Williamsburg, uncovering the roots of their shared restlessness. Tomás Q. Morín paints a raw portrait of an absentee father, while Kelly McMasters portrays a loving and dedicated one. Maurice Carlos Ruffin insightfully captures a father who communicated through his integrity rather than words. Jiordan Castle reveals how we can love our fathers from a distance and Susan Muaddi Darraj explores the particular challenges of “eldest daughter syndrome” as a daughter of Palestinian immigrants.
With moments that are both humorous and deeply moving, this anthology is the second act that many have been eagerly waiting for.
Contributions by Michele Filgate, Andrew Altschul, Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Dylan Landis, Jaquira Díaz, Kelly McMasters, Isle McElroy, Susan Muaddi Darraj, Tomás Q. Morín, Robin Reif, Heather Sellers, Jiordan Castle, Nayomi Munaweera, Joanna Rakoff, and Julie Buntin. Discussion moderated by Denne Michele Norris.

Michele Filgate is the editor of What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About and What My Father and I Don’t Talk About. Her writing has appeared in Longreads, Poets & Writers, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Paris Review Daily, Tin House, Gulf Coast, Oprah Daily, and many other publications. She received her MFA in Fiction from NYU, where she was the recipient of the Stein Fellowship. She teaches at The New School.

Jiordan Castle is the author of Disappearing Act, a memoir in verse. Her poetry and prose appear in Best New Poets, The New Yorker, The Millions, The Rumpus, and elsewhere. Originally from New York, she studied writing at the University of San Francisco and received her MFA in Poetry from Hunter College. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and their dog.

Jaquira Díaz is the author of Ordinary Girls: A Memoir, winner of a Whiting Award, a Lambda Literary Awards finalist, an American Booksellers Association Indies Introduce Selection, a Barnes & Noble Discover Great New Writers Selection, an Indie Next Pick, a Library Reads pick, and finalist for the B&N Discover Prize. Her debut novel, This Is the Only Kingdom, is dropping October 2025. She lives in New York and teaches at Columbia University.

Isle McElroy's debut novel, The Atmospherians, was named a New York Times Editors' Choice. Their second novel, People Collide, was a New York Times Critics' Pick and named a best book of 2023 by Vulture, Vogue, Them, and NPR. Other writing appears in The New York Times, New York Times Magazine, The Cut, GQ, The Atlantic, Tin House, and elsewhere.

Moderating the conversation is Denne Michele Norris. Denne Michele is the editor-in-chief of Electric Literature, winner of the 2022 Whiting Literary Magazine Prize, where she is the first Black, openly trans woman to helm a major literary publication. A 2021 Out100 Honoree, her writing has been supported by MacDowell, Tin House, and the Kimbilio Center for African American Fiction, and appears in McSweeney's, American Short Fiction, and ZORA. She co-hosts the critically-acclaimed podcast Food 4 Thot, and her debut novel, When The Harvest Comes, will be published by Random House in April, 2025, and Both/And, her anthology celebrating trans writers of color, is forthcoming from HarperOne.

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