Blurb Brag & Lit Links

Proud to share stellar endorsements by these stellar endorsers, whose work you need to read...

Final cover. Getting ready to hit the shelves!

The countdown is on! Two weeks until my memoir, Escape Velocity, launches. We’re cutting it a teeny-tad close with IngramSpark pre-launch approvals and reviews, so I might be hyperventilating till then, but I can report that the first PDF looked spectacular. I might even have a print proof (aka BOOK) in hand by next week’s post!

This week, I’m sharing the blurbs my book received from my dream team of endorsers. Truly humbling. I’m in awe of them, their brilliant writing, their longevity, their seriousness, their generosity—and deeply grateful for their time and support. As is true for other first-time memoirists, my experience of reading others’ reflections about me and my life story has been surreal.

Please do yourself the favor of learning more about these fabulous authors and reading their work. Some info and links appear below each blurb.

“Deborah Sosin’s cleverly conceived Escape Velocity is a potent mix of intimacy, wit, and mounting angst over the inevitability of aging, offered in crisp, seventy-word capsules of remarkable honesty. Sosin portrays a fascinating, surprising life, ending on a perfect note of hope and resilience.”
—Dinty W. Moore, author of Between Panic & Desire and founding editor of Brevity

Dinty also wrote The Mindful Writer and The Accidental Buddhist, among many published works featured on his website. He teaches internationally and posts powerful quotes and photos daily on his Facebook page. And if you’ve been in a cave (or just unfamiliar with flash nonfiction), read Brevity: A Journal of Concise Literary Nonfiction. The best.

“In this collection of short moments chosen from a life of confusion, resentments, mistakes, epiphanies, friendship, loss, and laughter, Deborah Sosin traces the bumpy path to becoming who she is now: a woman complete in herself—imaginative, curious, full of life, and, perhaps best, someone she can rely on. Anna Hall’s illustrations are marvelous, perfect. I loved this book.”
—Abigail Thomas, author of A Three Dog Life and Safekeeping

Abby is a much-beloved, much-honored, and prolific writer of fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Her book Safekeeping (2000), a collection of short memoir pieces, broke new ground at the time and set the stage for my own foray into flash. Now 84, she’s still very much active on her Substack, "What Comes Next?” If you don’t know about Abigail Thomas, start now!

“Combining the psychological insight of a therapist, the sensitivity of a poet, and the skill of an expert storyteller, Sosin has pulled off a dazzling magic trick, capturing seventy years’ worth of transformation in seventy meaning-packed moments. Escape Velocity is a shimmering ode to the strength of the human spirit, and to the surprising ways our constraints can set us free.”
—Nicole Graev Lipson, author of Mothers and Other Fictional Characters

Nicole’s extraordinary memoir in essays is already a bestseller for all the best reasons. It’s gorgeous, moving, and so superbly crafted as to leave one’s mouth hanging open in awe. Check out her website for links to her other works and news of her upcoming appearances.

“In Escape Velocity, Deborah Sosin’s crystalline seventy-word micro memoirs chart a decades-long journey to liberated selfhood, proving that freedom—hard-won and glorious—can arrive at any age.”
—Darien Hsu Gee, author of Allegiance and Other Small Histories

Darien is an award-winning poet, essayist, and sought-after teacher based in Hawai’i. Her Substack, “Writer-ish,” offers incredible resources, many free, for writers exploring the world of micro prose. Subscribers have access to even more wonderful offerings. Allegiance, her award-winning collection of micro-memoirs and prose poems, should be must reading for flash writers.

And now a pause for a never-before-published sneak-preview page spread from Escape Velocity. Hope you enjoy the juxtaposition of the micro with Anna Hall’s beautiful line drawing.

“Sosin’s beautifully precise seventy-word entries are expansive, deeply thoughtful, and often very funny explorations of the moments that shape a life. Generous, heartbreaking, and evocatively illustrated by Anna Hall, Escape Velocity reminds us of the transformative power we hold when we tell our own story.”
—Hester Kaplan, author of Twice Born

Hester taught in the Lesley MFA program and used to knock our socks off at faculty readings with her wise, wholly unique voice in both fiction and nonfiction. Her latest book, Twice Born, is a memoir about her complex relationship with her famous father, Justin Kaplan. It’s one of those books where you just want to underline every sentence, so take your time. You can find out more about her award-winning fiction and other work on her website.

“In spare, illustrated morsels infused with psychological insights, Deborah Sosin unfurls a moving, later-in-life coming-of-age story that will resonate with many—especially those who have struggled to untangle themselves from complicated family dynamics and limiting societal expectations.”
—Sari Botton, author of And You May Find Yourself...Confessions of a Late-Blooming Gen-X Weirdo and editor-in-chief of Oldster Magazine

Sari has been an active, much-published, supremely generous writer and editor in the nonfiction lit world for many years. Her current offerings on the Substack Oldster Magazine (linked above) and Memoir Land include original writing (by her and others), interviews, questionnaires, and an amazing weekly compendium of worthy writings from other sources on the internet. Be sure to read her probing and inspiring memoir about midlife self-discovery, among other life passages (linked above). And subscribe to her Substacks today!

“With the tactile skill of an old-world artisan, Deborah Sosin has conjured a wide-ranging palette of miniature vignettes for Escape Velocity, each with the vivid tone and luster of a colorful mosaic tile. And she has assembled these precise singular fragments into a cohesive self-portrait of a life journey that is both intimate and far-flung, glistening with themes of independence, love, loss, sexual awakening, psychological constructs, family ties that bristle and bind and evolve with the author’s emerging self-awareness.”
—Robbie Gamble, author of A Can of Pinto Beans and poetry editor at Solstice Literary Magazine

Robbie, whom I know from the Lesley MFA program, is a beyond-gifted poet, thinker, essayist, and humanitarian. Visit his website to have the pleasure of delving into his impressive set of moving and incisive (and award-winning) work. Robbie is all heart in his words and in his life. Follow him wherever he goes.

LOCAL FOLKS! At last, my launch event is confirmed: “In conversation with Michael Lowenthal” at Newtonville Books, Newton, Mass., Wednesday, March 25, 7 pm. (That’s where I launched Charlotte and the Quiet Place in 2015.) Come!

Check Escape Velocity for updates and more events, including “In conversation with Nicole Graev Lipson” at Porter Square Books, Cambridge, Wednesday, April 15, 7 pm. Hope to see you there!

Dear Readers: Hope you’re enjoying my Substack, where I post my musings every Friday. I’m keeping a free subscription option for the foreseeable future, but I’d be grateful if you’d lend your support by subscribing ($7/month or $70/year) and sharing.