The White Hot- with Quiara Alegria Hudes and Hanif Abdurraqib
Schedule
Thu Dec 04 2025 at 07:30 pm to 08:30 pm
UTC-05:00Location
The Drama Book Shop | New York, NY
About this Event
The Drama Book Shop presents, in association with Jay Michaels Global Communications, The White Hot- with Quiara Alegria Hudes and Hanif Abdurraqib.
Join Pulitzer Prize-winning author Quiara Alegría Hudes and Hanif Abdurraqib to discuss the musicality of language and how it shapes our reading (or writing) experience. Centered on Hudes's The White Hot, the conversation will explore the power of music in their work and personal lives and as a bridge that connects them to their creative communities.
ABOUT THE BOOK
The story of a runaway mother’s ten days of freedom—and the pain, desire, longing, and wonder we find on the messy road to enlightenment—from Pulitzer Prize winner Quiara Alegría Hudes.
April is a young mother raising her daughter in an intergenerational house of unspoken secrets and loud arguments. Her only refuge is to hide away in a locked bathroom, her ears plugged into an ambient soundscape, and a mantra on her lips: dead inside. That is, until one day, as she finds herself spiraling toward the volcanic rage she calls the white hot, a voice inside her tells her to just…walk away. She wanders to a bus station and asks for a ticket to the furthest destination; she tells the clerk to make it one-way. That ticket takes her from her Philly home to the threshold of a wilderness and the beginning of a nameless quest—an accidental journey that shakes her awake, almost kills her, and brings her to the brink of an impossible choice. The White Hot takes the form of a letter from mother to daughter about a moment of abandonment that would stretch from ten days to ten years—an explanation, but not an apology. Hudes narrates April’s story—spiritual and sexy, fierce and funny—with delicate lyricism and tough love. Just as April finds in her painful and absurd sojourn the key to freeing herself and her family from a cage of generational trauma, so Hudes turns April’s stumbling pursuit of herself into an unforgettable short epic of self-discovery.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Quiara Alegría Hudes is a Pulitzer Prize–winning playwright, essayist, and author whose works have been performed worldwide. Her plays include Water by the Spoonful (Pulitzer Prize), In the Heights (Tony Award for Best Musical), and Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue (Pulitzer finalist). Her memoir My Broken Language was longlisted for the Andrew Carnegie Medal and named among the Best Books of 2021, and her debut novel The White Hot—called “a staggering gut punch” by Kirkus—arrives this November.
Trained as a composer and pianist, Hudes seamlessly weaves music into her storytelling, collaborating with artists such as Lin-Manuel Miranda, Michel Camilo, and The Cleveland Orchestra. She co-founded the Pr*son writing program Emancipated Stories and has written essays for The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Nation. A proud Philadelphian, Hudes credits mentors Paula Vogel, her aunt Linda Hudes, and her mother Virginia Sanchez for shaping her artistic and spiritual vision.
ABOUT THE MODERATOR
Hanif Abdurraqib is a poet, essayist, and cultural critic from Columbus, Ohio. He is the author of the poetry collections The Crown Ain’t Worth Much and A Fortune for Your Disaster, and the essay collections They Can’t K*ll Us Until They K*ll Us and A Little Devil in America, which won the Andrew Carnegie Medal and the Gordon Burn Prize. His book Go Ahead in the Rain: Notes to A Tribe Called Quest was a New York Times bestseller and a National Book Award longlist selection. His work has appeared in The New Yorker, Pitchfork, and The New York Times.
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This Eventbrite ticket is your reservation for the event.
Please note that the purchase of The White Hot $19.95 is required for entry.
Upon arrival, our team will direct you to the register to obtain your copy and complete your admission.
The store will begin welcoming guests at 7:15 pm.
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Where is it happening?
The Drama Book Shop, 266 West 39th Street, New York, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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