WHAT’S UP AMERICA, it’s your boy Emma, back in the states and ready to PARTY! And by party I mean, stay in bed for 24 hours cuddling the cat and speaking to no one!!! I’ve been in France and Spain for the past month, first on a little French book tour and then on vacation, and just got back home yesterday evening to an unholy pile of delivered packages.
What could be in this pile of boxes, you ask?
Time to play… TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE!
These boxes contained three pairs of shoes I ordered before I left. Two identical pairs of white Converse because they were $30 on sale and I wear through sneakers like no one’s business, and a pair of adorable Charlotte Stone shoes because jesus christ what was I thinking. They’re so expensive and I will literally never wear them. Past-Emma is delusional. Returning immediately.
These boxes contained truly stunning paperback copies of INK BLOOD SISTER SCRIBE — a paperback you too can own when it comes out tomorrow, June 11! I absolutely love the new color scheme, not to mention the gorgeous inside stepback. It’s also Igor-approved, as you can see. Please order hundreds and thousands of copies and tell all your friends and neighbors.
These boxes contained KITTY.
Okay, what’s the verdict? Did the boxes contain (1) shoes, (2) books, or (3) kitty? Test your lie-busting skills!!!
Some good recent news: INK BLOOD SISTER SCRIBE won the Minnesota Book Award for Genre Fiction, which made me so, so happy. It’s no secret I love Minnesota, specifically Minneapolis, with the zeal of the newly converted (even though I’ve lived here cumulatively for 15 years, so I’m not even new anymore), and it felt really good to feel the love aimed back at me.
Here’s a photo of me and the pals that accompanied me, I’m the one kneeling and holding a white box (which contains a big glass paperweight award!).
And if you want to watch the ceremony, you can do so here (my speech is from about 1:24:00-1:27:00, here’s a clip).
While there were many truly beautiful, touching speeches both personal and political, mine was not one of them—I kept it shallow, as I usually do with anything public-facing, including this newsletter. Even though I do authentically believe, just to throw out a RANDOM example, that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and it’s unconscionable, I feel inauthentic writing or speaking about such subjects “publicly.” One of the reasons I don’t have other social media is because of my intense aversion to performing politics… though an argument I’ve made to myself is that by not speaking often about politics, I’m enacting a different kind of performance. I don’t know. I don’t even know how to define “politics” anymore. I have no answers, except to say that having a public face, even one as barely public as my own, is really weird and takes practice and I’m sure I’m doing it wrong.
ANYWAY, shallowly onto my European jaunt. So fun. My very first night in France, I went from telling everyone I was a vegetarian and allergic to red wine (true! mostly!) to trying foie gras and drinking Bordeaux. In terms of the foie gras, my excuse is that I will try any food once, even meat, and as for the Bordeaux, turns out I’m not as allergic to French reds?? Or something? I got a little flushed but that’s it!
Everyone I met from my French publisher, Éditions Denoël, was incredibly kind and hospitable (especially my editor, Pascal—if you’re reading this, Pascal, MERCI BEAUCOUP), and I made some lovely author-friends at the book fairs I attended, including several writers I’ve been a fan of for a long time, like Samanta Schweblin and Tasha Suri. It is always gratifying to meet writers I admire who turn out to be just as wonderful in person as they are on the page.
Lest I mislead you into believing my life is glamorous, don’t worry, I also did a signing that not a single person attended. “Wow!” said the French bookseller. “Not one single person! Incredible! This has truly never happened before!” Thanks my dude. Pictured below: me and my books, lonely and bored.
Here are some excellent little French dogs. (If a human face appears, it was taken with consent.)
I also want to mention two highlights that were musical in nature. I saw Hurray for the Riff-Raff in Paris, and PJ Harvey in Madrid. These artists released my two favorite albums of the last year, The Past is Still Alive and I Inside the Old Year Dying respectively, and they both played those albums in their entirety. I admit I cried a little at both shows. Really amazing.
And now I am home!
Did I mention, please buy my paperback!
Til next time,
<3 Emma
Kitty
Congratulations on the paperback and the French edition!