The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, a debut short story collection from author Deesha Philyaw, places Black female desire on proud display. The work, currently being adapted for television by HBO Max with Tessa Thompson executive producing, is populated by a rich cast of voices spanning multiple generations in the South of the United States. Exploring the varied intersections of religion and sexuality, from trysts with pastors to suppressed queer attraction, the stories celebrate women who learn what it means to want. Philyaw sanctifies the sinful, demonstrating that that the most godly activity of all is that of shameless, embodied love. She will speak virtually at the library about writing worship in all of its different, sensual forms.
About the speaker:
Deesha Philyaw’s debut short story collection, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (2020), won the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the 2020/2021 Story Prize, and the 2020 LA Times Book Prize: The Art Seidenbaum Award for First Fiction and was a finalist for the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. Philyaw is also a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and will be the 2022-2023 John and Renée Grisham Writer-in-Residence at the University of Mississippi.
Important information: This event is online. Attendees will receive a Zoom link upon registration. Participants will be able to pose questions through the Zoom chat function.
This event requires advance registration.
