Minnesotans: Today (Saturday, May 9) former Icelandic first lady @elizajeanreid , who grew up in Canada, will be discussing her delightful and inspiring memoir The First Lady Next Door at @amswedinstitute at 2PM.
Here's Eliza signing my book at breakfast.
Please join us this afternoon to hear her story (and to see her amazing manicure?!)
A trio of very fun recent book mentions:
1) Last night I was a @jeopardy clue for the 7th time (!!!!!) In the words of my brother, "No one less famous has ever been a clue more times--I mean, you're not Benjamin Franklin."
2) @kimcattrall told The Guardian she's reading Show Don't Tell (!!!!)
3) At the end of Bill Nighy's delightful podcast @illadvisedbybillnighy he recommends and reads aloud from the very beginning of Romantic Comedy. Hearing my words in his voice made me smile while I walked around a Minnesota lake
I'm so excited to share that I'll be in conversation with @elizajeanreid about her extremely charming and wise memoir of unexpectedly (!) becoming first lady of Iceland. The event is this Saturday, May 9 at 2PM at @amswedinstitute in Minneapolis. Come if you can and if you can't, the book is such a balm to read now, so warm-hearted and curious about the world, travel, and other people.
/events-calendar/book-launch-the-first-lady-next-door-a-memoir-of-iceland-identity-and-unexpected-adventure/
To have one adventure with @v_v_ganeshananthan in a week is lucky but to have two is truly glorious...meaning somehow Sugi and I ended up making a very quick trip Wednesday to attend a @nypl reception for Queen Camilla (yes, that Queen Camilla) and her books podcast @thequeensreadingroom .
And then on Thursday we were the Claire Gilbert Visiting Writers at @stolafcollege , where we were so warmly greeted by the Oles, and where I learned the term Oles
🖤💛
So great to be back in Cincinnati this past week, being asked super-smart questions by the wonderful novelist @leahstewartwriter at @josephbethcincy .
Also at Joseph-Beth, I met Aditha, an optometrist who recently read Prep for the first time and included it as one of her favorite reads in her 2025 holiday card (!). And Yetter at Joseph-Beth loves Leave Your Mess at Home almost as much as I do!
Finally, very sweet to talk about books with my brother PG at the school we both attended, while wearing a borrowed Seven Hills T-shirt that we estimated is from the mid-90s 💛💙
Join us on the 2026 US leg of @elizajeanreid ‘s book tour for her new memoir, “The First Lady Next Door.” On sale May 5!
#memoir #nonfictionbooks #Iceland
Danke to my German publisher @dumontbuchverlag for the publication of Middle-Aged Women (the story collection titled Show Don't Tell in English but how great is the German title?) and for the lovely re-issue of Prep
It was such an incredible joy to celebrate @tolani_akinola and her wondrous debut novel Leave Your Mess at Home in person, at an excellent event hosted last night by @44thand3rdbookseller
Great Q+A, great to see Tolani's LitUp / @hellosunshine "fellow fellows"-- @ashleyjordanwrites ! @allisonkingwrites ! @boraleereed !--great to get a book signed by Tolani, great to wear My Leave Your Mess at Home hat in public, with the author 😍🌟
Cincinnati: I'm coming to you a week from today, on Wednesday, April 22 at 7PM at @josephbethcincy to talk about Show Don't Tell with @leahstewartwriter and I can't wait. Joseph-Beth, thank you for this lovely banner to welcome me home 🤗
I'm SO excited that it's the publication day for a novel I love by a writer I adore: Leave Your Mess at Home by @tolani_akinola
In 2023, Tolani and I were paired through @hellosunshine 's LitUp writing fellow program (thank you forever @reesewitherspoon !) and bonded immediately over how delicious we found the truffle french fries at the introductory group dinner and how much we both like reading and writing about semi-unrequited love.
Leave Your Mess at Home is about four adult siblings in their 20s who are messed-up overachievers and their complex relationships with their immigrant parents and each other. Among other things, its depictions of semi-unrequited love are magnificent. I suspect you'll love it and if you're in a book club, you'll love talking about it.
Congratulations Tolani on your wonderful novel 🍟🧡🎉
It was a joy having my brother P.G. Sittenfeld in the Twin Cities this past week, partly to eat rice bowls with me and partly to speak about his wild legal journey of the last few years at Mitchell Hamline and the U of MN's law schools (I biasedly but highly recommend him if you're looking for a speaker to talk about law, life detours or resilience). And yes, if you look closely we're wearing matching ancient gray Patagonia fleeces, which is the case about 75% of the time when we're together.
