Harvard Book Store Presents:

Michele Filgate

presenting
What My Father and I Don’t Talk About: Sixteen Writers Break the Silence
with contributors Joanna Rakoff and Kelly McMasters, moderated by Andre Dubus III

Harvard Book Store welcomes Michele Filgate—editor of What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About—for a discussion of her new book What My Father and I Don’t Talk About: Sixteen Writers Break the Silence. She will be joined in conversation by her book contributors Joanna Rakoff—author of the international bestselling memoir My Salinger Year and the award-winning novel A Fortunate Age—and Kelly McMasters—author of the memoirs The Leaving Season and Welcome to Shirley. They will be joined in conversation by National Book Award finalist Andre Dubus III—author of nine books include the New York Times’ bestsellers House of Sand and Fog, The Garden of Last Days, and his memoir, Townie.

Ticketing

There are two ticket options for this event.

1. Book-Included Tickets: Includes admission for one and one hardcover copy of What My Father and I Don’t Talk About pre-signed by Michele Filgate.
2. Admission-Only Tickets: Includes admission for one.

Note: Books bundled with tickets may only be picked up at the venue the night of the event, and cannot be picked up in-store beforehand. Ticket holders who purchased a book-included ticket and are unable to attend the event will be able to pick up their book at Harvard Book Store up to 30 days following the event. This offer expires after 30 days. Please note we cannot guarantee signed copies will be available to ticket holders who do not attend the event.

About What My Father and I Don’t Talk About

A follow-up to the wildly successful What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About, this collection of essays from sixteen notable writers breaks the silence on the complex—and sometimes contentious—relationships we have with our fathers.

What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About has become a rare gem in the literary world. Both a viral sensation online and chosen by Oprah Daily as one of the best nonfiction books of the past two decades, it is an essential collection that dives into the personal and poignant topics we often struggle to discuss with those who are meant to know and love us best.

This captivating follow-up, edited by Michele Filgate, tackles the intricate and challenging relationships we have with our dads, breaking the silence around these vital connections. Andrew Altschul reflects on the life-altering experience of becoming a father and how it reshaped his view of his own dad’s parenting. Isle McElroy shares memories of weekends spent tagging along as their father fixed up the homes of their wealthier neighbors. Jaquira Díaz delves into her father’s history in 1970s Williamsburg, uncovering the roots of their shared restlessness. Tomás Q. Morín paints a raw portrait of an absentee father, while Kelly McMasters portrays a loving and dedicated one. Maurice Carlos Ruffin insightfully captures a father who communicated through his integrity rather than words. Jiordan Castle reveals how we can love our fathers from a distance and Susan Muaddi Darraj explores the particular challenges of “eldest daughter syndrome” as a daughter of Palestinian immigrants.

With moments that are both humorous and deeply moving, this anthology is the second act that many have been eagerly waiting for.

Contributions by Michele Filgate, Andrew Altschul, Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, Maurice Carlos Ruffin, Dylan Landis, Jaquira Díaz, Kelly McMasters, Isle McElroy, Susan Muaddi Darraj, Tomás Q. Morín, Robin Reif, Heather Sellers, Jiordan Castle, Nayomi Munaweera, Joanna Rakoff, and Julie Buntin.

Praise for What My Father and I Don’t Talk About

“This stunning collection gathers so many kinds of fathers; fathers selling cars, cutting hair, peeling apples, salting slugs, wearing dresses, arriving too late, fathers who were violent in their primes, cowed by end of life. I noted a few showing up to games under complicated circumstances, two who’d given up painting, and one surprising daddy. These essays are hilarious, comforting, confounding and devastating. If fathers point out the world to their kids, this book of kids points back in remarkable, beautiful ways.” —Marie-Helene Bertino, author of Beautyland

“In her poignant contribution to this collection, Susan Muaddi Darraj writes: “I get to see the layers of my father, all his various modes.” The entirety of What My Father And I Don’t Talk About gave me a similar sensation. The moving, varied essays assembled here showed me fathers in all their complexity and scope—sometimes loving, sometimes withholding, assertively present and achingly distant. This brilliant book is a vital addition to the literature of fathers and their children, and to our understanding of the tender and fraught relationships between them.” —Rosie Schaap, author of The Slow Road North

“Moving and deeply relatable, this collection explores the many faces of fathers, from the loving and the humorous to the absent and the terrifying. Each essay invites us into a different world and a different childhood, yet finds unexpected throughlines of tenderness and vulnerability. What My Father and I Don’t Talk About will have readers seeing in powerful new light the relationship that has shaped their lives and sense of self.” —Qian Julie Wang, New York Times bestselling author of Beautiful Country 

Bios

Michele Filgate is the editor of What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About and What My Father and I Don’t Talk About. Her writing has appeared in Longreads, Poets & Writers, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, The Paris Review Daily, Tin House, Gulf Coast, Oprah Daily, and many other publications. She received her MFA in Fiction from NYU, where she was the recipient of the Stein Fellowship. She teaches creative writing at The New School.

Joanna Rakoff is the author of the international bestselling memoir My Salinger Year and the bestselling novel A Fortunate Age, winner of the Goldberg Prize for Fiction and the Elle Readers’ Prize. Rakoff’s books have been translated into twenty languages, and the film
adaptation of My Salinger Year opened in theaters worldwide in 2021 and is now streaming. She has been the recipient of fellowships and residencies from MacDowell, Yaddo, Millay Arts, Sewanee, Bread Loaf, Jerome Foundation, Authors’ Guild, PEN, Ragdale Foundation, Art OMI/Ledig House, and Saltonstall; and has taught at Columbia University, Brooklyn College, and Aspen Words. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, The Guardian, Oprah Daily, Vogue, Elle, Porter, and elsewhere. Her new memoir, The Fifth Passenger, is forthcoming from Little, Brown in 2025.

Kelly McMasters is an essayist, professor, mother, and former bookshop owner. She is the author of The Leaving Season: A Memoir and Welcome to Shirley: A Memoir from an Atomic Town, which was the inspiration for the Sundance Selects documentary The Atomic States of America. She is also the co-editor, along with Margot Kahn, of the anthologies Wanting: Women Writing About Desire and This is the Place: Women Writing About Home. Her essays and reviews have appeared in The Atlantic, LitHub, The New York Times, Orion Magazine, The Paris Review Daily, River Teeth, VQR, and more. She is an Associate Professor of English and Director of Publishing Studies at Hofstra University in New York.

Andre Dubus III’s nine books include the New York Times’ bestsellers House of Sand and Fog, The Garden of Last Days, and his memoir, Townie. His most recent novel, Such Kindness, was published in June 2023, and a collection of personal essays, Ghost Dogs: On Killers and Kin, was published in March 2024. He is also the editor of Reaching Inside: 50 Acclaimed Authors on 100 Unforgettable Short Stories, (Godine, 2023.) Mr. Dubus has been a finalist for the National Book Award, and has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, The National Magazine Award for Fiction, three Pushcart Prizes, and is a recipient of an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award in Literature. His books are published in over twenty-five languages, and he teaches at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.

Masking Policy

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.