Leila Renee launches Soft Spots in conversation with Dralandra Larkins

Raven Leilani’s Luster meets Halle Butler’s The New Me, SOFT SPOTS is a darkly funny and off-kilter coming-of-age novel following recent college graduate Robin Clarke after she runs away from her family, only to be forced to confront whether she should reconcile with her father when his health takes a sudden turn for the worst.

After miraculously securing a teaching job at a dysfunctional high school, loner Robin moves to South Bend, Indiana, where she’s paired with an eerily perfect roommate: Naomi. Freshly estranged from her abusive parents, Robin obsesses over two absurd goals: to be the best teacher at the school, despite never having taught, and to become best friends with Naomi, who could not be more her opposite. Meanwhile back home, Robin’s brother must decide between being loyal to his sister or their parents.

Just as Robin grows closer to her students and Naomi, she receives earth-shattering news from her brother. Desperate to cope, Robin redoubles her efforts to befriend Naomi, spiraling even deeper into obsession and self-sabotage. Everything comes to a head when one of Robin’s many bad choices come back to bite her, and she must confront the limits of forgiveness, the weight of memory, and the true cost of estrangement.

Leila Renee is originally from Milwaukee. She earned her MFA from Syracuse University and her stories have appeared in McSweeney’s, The Kenyon Review, and more. She has received the Gulf Coast Prize in Fiction and a Fulbright Award. She teaches at the University of St. Thomas and lives in Minneapolis.

Dralandra Larkins is an award-winning spoken-word poet and educator, she is a multi-genre writer, and audiobook author of Before I Lie (2025). A COMPAS teaching artist, and a recipient of the Loft Literary Center Teaching Artist Fellowship, the Minnesota State Arts Board Grant, and Springboard for the Arts’ Weathering Together artist grant. She’s performed for the NAACP, Button Poetry, Mil City Museum, TruArtSpeaks,MN State Capitol, MN Black Business Ball and the MN Black Authors Expo. Her work weaves together rhythm, intimacy and vulnerability to create a haven for healing rooted in her background as a social worker. She is the co-editor of Cracked Walnut's anthology, Rewilding Hope(2023) and The Nations Underground: Writing with Our Ancestors with Cabello-Hansel (2024), and currently coordinates literary programming at Friends of the St. Paul Public Library including Club Book, Moving Words, and the Fireside Reading Series. Follow her journey: dralandrawrites.com

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