In-Person Reading: Liz Prato and Yuvi Zalkow

Annie Bloom’s welcomes back Portland authors Liz Prato and Yuvi Zalkow to read from their new books, Prato’s essay collection Kids in America: A Gen X Reckoning and Zalkow’s novel I Only Cry with Emoticons. They will be in conversation with Jackie Shannon Hollis, author of the memoir This Particular Happiness: A Childless Love Story.

Signed and personalized copies of both authors’ books are available! Please, please, please include the name for personalization in the order notes; all orders without a name specified in the order notes will be signed only.

About Kids in America:

Generation X was born between the legions of Baby Boomers and Millennials, and was all but written off as cynical, sarcastic slackers. Yet, Gen X’s impact on culture and society is undeniable. In her revealing and provocative essay collection, Kids in America: Essays on Gen X, Liz Prato reveals a generation deeply affected by terrorism, racial inequality, rape culture, and mental illness in an era when none of these issues were openly discussed. Examined through the lens of her high school and family, Prato reveals a small, forgotten cohort shaped as much by Sixteen Candles and Beverly Hills, 90210, as it was by the Rodney King riots and the threat of nuclear annihilation. Prato is unflinching in asking hard questions of her peers about what behavior was then acceptable or overlooked, and how we reconcile those sins today. Kids in America illuminates a generation that is often cited, but rarely examined beyond the gloss of nostalgia.

Liz Prato is the author of Volcanoes, Palm Trees, and Privilege: Essays on Hawai‘i, a 2019 New York Times Top Summer Read, and finalist for the Oregon Book Award; and Baby’s on Fire: Stories. Her essays and stories have appeared in numerous publications, including River Teeth, The Rumpus, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Salon, and Subtropics, and was chosen as notable selections for Best American Essays and Best American Sports Writing in 2018. Prato is also Editor at Large for Forest Avenue Press, and has been a licensed massage therapist for over 25 years.

About I Only Cry with Emoticons:

Saul doesn’t get why he’s misunderstood. At his high-tech day job, he hides in the bathroom writing a novel about his dead grandfather and wonders why his boss wants to fire him. He tells his almost ex-wife about a blind date and wonders why she slams the door in his face. He aches with worry for his seven-year-old son, who seems happier living with his mom and her new man. When the blind date becomes a complicated relationship, and Saul’s blunders at work threaten the survival of the company, Saul has to wake up and confront his fears. I Only Cry with Emoticons is a quirky comedy that reveals the cost of being disconnected––even when we’re using a dozen apps on our devices to communicate––and an awkward man’s search for real connections, on and offline.

Yuvi Zalkow is the author of I Only Cry with Emoticons (Red Hen, 2022) and A Brilliant Novel in the Works. His short stories have been published in Glimmer Train, Narrative Magazine, Carve Magazine, Rosebud, The Los Angeles Review, and others. Yuvi uses his poor drawing skills to make YouTube videos and mobile apps that ooze with his worries and anxiety.

Jackie Shannon Hollis, a lifelong Oregonian, resides with her husband in a home her friends call the tree house. Her education and work as a counselor pushed her to hold up the mirror to her own self. In addition to thinking she would be a mother, she once dreamed of being a June Taylor dancer or a racecar driver.