'You Know Nothing' Book Launch and Reading
Schedule
Thu, 26 Feb, 2026 at 05:30 pm
UTC-06:00Location
1159 24th Street Des Moines IA 50311 | Des Moines, IA
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You Know Nothing Book Launch and ReadingTHURSDAY, FEBRUARY 26
5:30pm - 7:30pm
Free - No Tickets Required
*Seating available on a first come, first served basis.
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Writer and Drake Professor of English Yasmina Din Madden will read from her collection You Know Nothing (Northwestern University Press, Feb '26). Our next door neighbors at Nos Books [https://www.nosbookstore.com/] will have copies available for purchase. 5:30-7:30pm, come grab a drink, celebrate, and stay for a few stories.
Following women and girls as they navigate everyday life in contemporary America, You Know Nothing explores the experiences of mothers, daughters, sisters, wives, and lovers whose inner worlds are animated by a tangle of emotion—from desire to rage and everything in between. Yasmina Din Madden’s characters inhabit the margins of their cultures, their diverse backgrounds united by their profound unease and the female bodies in which each resides. Madden takes us into the lives of a ravenous mother who devours her own son, a woman who sands away parts of her body, a Vietnamese mother facing her too-American children, and a fiercely protective dog owner who wanders a dog park with Satan’s master. In this debut collection, Madden brings these characters to life in bite-size stories of surreal revelation and inquisitive long-form explorations alike, leaving newfound clarity and hypnotizing carnage in her wake.
* Northwestern University Press
"Readers, I gasped. You Know Nothing is a triumph of imagination, heart, and understated emotion. These are tales you'd trade on the playground in an alternate universe--a universe you won't want to leave after reaching the last page. Each story unsettles as much as it entertains.” —Kelly Luce, author of Pull Me Under
“The propulsive, heart-wrenching stories of You Know Nothing explore the messy interiority of women who are on the brink of realization. With knife-sharp prose and unforgettable detail, Yasmina Din Madden pushes on her characters’ bruises until the reader also feels the ache.” —Maggie Su, author of Blob: A Love Story
“You Know Nothing is a wonder. At times electrifyingly surreal, at times achingly realistic, these raw and vulnerable stories feature women brimming with desire and rage. A haunting debut.” —Vanessa Hua, author of Forbidden City
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Where is it happening?
1159 24th Street Des Moines IA 50311, 1159 24th St, Des Moines, IA 50311-4331, United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
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