Melissa Giberson & Amy Ferris in conv. Moderated by Jessica Keener 4/30

East End Books Boston Seaport Presents: Melissa Giberson "Late Bloomer: Finding My Authentic Self at Midlife" and Amy Ferris "Mighty Gorgeous: A Little Book about Messy Love" in conversation - Moderated by Jessica Keener "Night Swim" 4/30 at 6pm.

Melissa Giberson is a middle-aged suburban wife and mother of two kids, solidly planted in the life she's always wanted. Yet she longs for something more--something she can't quite put her finger on until, one day at the Y, she finds herself mesmerized by the sight of a naked woman and asks herself for the first time: Am I gay? This revelation sends Melissa on a head-spinning journey of self-discovery, one that challenges everything she thinks she knows about herself, forces her to decide exactly how much she's willing to risk for authenticity, and shakes the foundations of the family she's fiercely determined to shield from the kinds of wounds she sustained during her own childhood. Torn between her desire to be true to herself and her desire to protect her children, she is consumed by fear and conflicting emotions--and when her husband unexpectedly serves her divorce papers, her confusion only deepens. Adrift in uncharted waters, Melissa finds fragments of understanding and peace in unexpected places--in a conference room in Israel, a small fishing village in Cape Cod, and at a yoga retreat center--that help her deconstruct her preconceptions about faith and identity and begin to construct a new framework for her life. Over the course of her ten-year journey, she finds hope, love, and more courage than she ever knew she was capable of, and she gradually assembles the puzzle that is her--the real her.

Melissa is a native New Yorker who identifies as a late bloomer, a highly sensitive introvert, and a proud mama bear to two children. An occupational therapist and writer, she has published articles in Kveller and Dorothy Parker's Ashes; she also received an Honorable Mention in the Memoirs/Personal Essay category of the 91st Annual Writer's Digest Writing Competition. Her essay "Art Is the Antidote" appears in the anthology Art In The Time Of Unbearable Crisis (June 2022). Melissa is living her authentic life with her partner and their two cats; together, they split their time between New Jersey and Provincetown, Massachusetts.

Mighty Gorgeous: A Little Book about Messy Love

Part memoir, part self-help, this loving, compassionate, and unfailingly audacious missive from force of nature Amy Ferris--a woman who has made all the mistakes and, as such, learned all the accompanying lessons--tackles the question, What would I tell my younger self if I could speak to her now? with gusto.

Amy Ferris is an author, editor, screenwriter & playwright. Her memoir, Marrying George Clooney: Confessions from a Midlife Crisis (Seal Press), was adapted into an Off-Broadway play in 2012. As a screenwriter, she wrote the film Mr. Wonderful and was nominated for a Best Screenplay Award (BET, Black Reel Award) for her adaptation of the film Funny Valentines. Her YA book a greater goode was published by Houghton Mifflin. As an editor, she curated Shades of Blue: Writers on Depression, Suicide, and Feeling Blue (Seal Press) and coedited the anthology Dancing at The Shame Prom (Seal Press). She recently coauthored the book Old School Love (HarperCollins) with Rev Run of Run-DMC fame. In 2019, she was named one of Women's eNews's "21 Leaders for the 21st Century," and in 2021 she was a recipient of NextTribe's "Women of the Year." Amy is a cofounder of the Milford Readers and Writers Festival and resides in Dingman's Ferry, PA.

Night Swim

NATIONAL BESTSELLER: Sixteen-year-old Sarah Kunitz lives in a posh, suburban world of 1970 Boston. From the outside, her parents' lifestyle appears enviable, but all is not well for the Kunitz family. In the face of an escalating series of crises, Sarah dives into two summer romances that lead to unforeseen consequences.

Jessica Keener's writing career was launched when her story "Recovery" won second prize in Redbook's fiction contest. Her work has since been recognized in The Pushcart Prize under Outstanding Writers and has appeared in numerous publications. She is the recipient of a Massachusetts Cultural Council Artists Grant and was a finalist for Bread Loaf's Bakeless Literary Prize. Her debut novel, Night Swim, has was widely praised by reviewers and book bloggers and was followed by the collection Women in Bed and the novel Strangers in Budapest. Her feature articles have appeared in the Boston Globe; O, The Oprah Magazine, Coastal Living, Design New England, and other national publications.

Host or Publisher East End Books Ptown