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readandbreathe

@readandbreathe

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Writer. Editor of WHAT MY MOTHER AND I DON’T TALK ABOUT and WHAT MY FATHER AND I DON’T TALK ABOUT.

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

A story I often think about is inside this book 📖💛
A story that touched my heart, made me cry, and changed my perspective.

In “Un Verano en Nueva York,” Jaquira Díaz writes about her life and her relationship with her father, Cano, as she tries to understand the parts of his past that existed before she was born. She learns about his life in Puerto Rico 🇵🇷 and the years he spent in New York🗽🇺🇸❤️.

As a child, Jaquira had heard pieces of his story, including that he once had another family.

“I had always heard stories of my father’s years in New York, where he lived before he was ours. There were pictures in our photo albums of that other life…”

“When I was a kid, my mother told me about his other family: there had been another woman, and there were rumors of a son.”

What I loved most about this story was reading about the time Jaquira spent with her father. Those memories felt special and beautiful to me. The moments when they connected, shared so much in common, and tried to stay close to one another, even as life drifted them apart.

As Jaquira learns more about her father’s past, she discovers his grief and the loss of a child. That part of his story affected me deeply. His pain was something he had carried quietly for so many years, and she had no idea how much he had been holding inside.

This is where my perspective shifted. Our parents carry so much pain, grief, and history that we may know nothing about. Sometimes the ways our parents behave can be difficult for us to understand until we learn more about the lives they lived before us. Reading Jaquira discover her father’s story made me think about how much a person can hide, even from the people closest to them. When she learned the truth about her father, I cried. It truly touched my heart.

This is one of those stories that will stay with me forever.

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#bookstagram #bookcommunity #readersofinstagram #bookrecommendations #bookstagrammer

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In 1905 Henri Matisse, feeling washed up and fed up, made his way to Collioure, a small Catalan fishing village in the deep south of France. He beseeched his artist friends to join him, but they all had better things to do. Only the young painter André Derain showed any interest, but his parents were dubious. Matisse wrote a postcard imploring him, writing "a stay here is absolutely necessary for your work."

Dérain did come to Collioure, and within the span of a few weeks both Matisse and Dérain made creative discoveries that changed the course of both of their lives, and gave birth to a new art movement called fauvism.

Although we can't promise such extravagant transformation, we do believe there is something life-changing here.

Come to Your Senses 2027 is now open for registration. Three week-long writing retreats, with Meg Wolitzer + Natalie Serber, Cheryl Strayed + Brian Benson, and Ann Hood + Michele Filgate. Details at the link in bio.

We hope you come.

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A few books that I absolutely loved.

The best books don’t just tell a story, they leave a mark. These are some of the ones that kept me up too late, had me thinking about the characters days later, or made me immediately text someone, “You have to read this.” 😂
What book has had that effect on you lately? 👇🏾

📚❤️ #BookLover #ReadersOfInstagram #AuthorLife #Bookstagram #AmReading BookCommunity ReadingJourney

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Ever wonder what the characters from Homer’s Odyssey would read? We got you! Featuring books from the collection at the Main Library!

#ssflibrary #odyssey #booktok #library

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Some sights and scenes from this year’s @thebeaconlitfest. Thank you to our incredible panelists and to everyone who attended!

Translation
@johnnyandersonlorenz
@shreedaisy
Han Zhang
@deborahkapchan (moderator)

Poetry
@wayne.koestenbaum
@numenanovember
@dawnlundy
@anditalarico (moderator)
@ruthdanon4277 (moderator)

Nonfiction
@readandbreathe
@mjcorey
@deborahkapchan
Brian K. Mahoney (moderator)

Fiction
@theerinsomers
@juliaphillipswrites
@cheemobile
@matthewsciarappa (moderator)

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What are the stories we never tell our parents—or ourselves?

Michele Filgate’s bestselling anthology What My Father and I Don’t Talk About brings together powerful essays on family, silence, and connection.

Hear Michele Filgate at the ‘Crafting Reality in Fiction and Nonfiction’ panel, Saturday June 13, 5-7:30pm

Beacon Litfest, June 12-14

🎟 Limited tickets still available. Link in bio

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Three weeks until the publication of WHEN WE WERE FERAL! I want to say a huge thank you to the writers who read early copies of my novel and provided these amazing blurbs.

I’ll be forever grateful to @chelseabieker @kristen__arnett, Joan Silber, @clare.beams, @readandbreathe, @jolenemcilwain, and @braindoggies for their enthusiasm and support for this book and helping me to usher this story into the world (swipe to read them all). Truly - thank you all. It means the world to me. I know the industry debates blurbs and writers wring their hands at asking for them (myself included) but these blurbs are a dream come true. ❤️

I deeply admire all of these writers and their words are a true gift. Please go buy all their books!

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hi to the new followers 👋🏻. here’s me and my book—which comes out in 7 weeks!—in a nutshell. let me know what we have in common!

#bookstagram #livingtogetherbook

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We're thrilled 💥that @readandbreathe Michele Filgate will be joining us as both a nonfiction panelist 📚AND an (almost sold out!) instructor this June!📕

Michele Filgate 🌟is the editor of a critically acclaimed anthology What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About,and the anthology What My Father and I Don’t Talk About. 💯

Her work has appeared in Longreads,Joyland, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Refinery29, Slice, The Paris Review Daily, Tin House, Gulf Coast, The Rumpus, Salon, Interview Magazine, Buzzfeed, The Barnes & Noble Review, Poets & Writers, CNN.com, Time Out New York, People, The Daily Beast, O, The Oprah Magazine, Men's Journal, Vulture, and other publications. 👍🏼🌟

In 2016, ✨Brooklyn Magazine named Filgate one of "The 100 Most Influential People in Brooklyn Culture." ✨She’s a former board member of the National Book Critics Circle, a former contributing editor at Literary Hub, and is founder of the Red Ink series. She teaches or has taught creative writing at Columbia, NYU, The New School, The Sackett Street Writers' Workshop, Catapult, and others.💪

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If you’re like me, you might find non-fiction books a bit boring (I know, I’m sorry, but I’m guilty) - they’ve always reminded me of the kind of textbooks I was ‘forced’ to read back in my school days and let’s be honest, anything factual I found myself losing attention in grasping what was going on and not to mention the language style would lose my interest ASAP. So when people have been asking me for non-fiction recommendations I used to say they weren’t my thing because I’m a fiction lover at heart. Nowadays, the prose and the style of non-fiction novels are created with readers like us in mind, and I feel sometimes I’ve been reaching for them not only through the recommendation of someone else but because I feel more compelled to learn something from them as I get older.

Here are a few that genuinely tick the box of ‘not boring’ on that checklist and will have you recommending these to those that are in the same boat that want a book that will leave them gasping, in awe that its true and may make them shed a tear or two...

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Where I’m From #245
By Michele Filgate
Inspired by George Ella Lyon

I’m from used books purchased at the annual library sale,
from Lipton iced tea mix and Giggle Noodle soup.
I’m from a damp finished basement.
(Musty, subaqueous,
the TV glowing like an aquarium.)
I’m from the marshy path to the lake guarded by cattails,
their rustle as soothing
as squishing the spongy earth beneath my sneakers.

I’m from piano lessons and sensitive stomachs,
from starting the school project the morning it’s due.
I’m from avoiding the fact that things change,
and haunting the halls of youth.
I’m from “don’t let the bed bugs bite”
and “stop reading while walking!”

I’m from attending the weddings and funerals of strangers
from the balcony of St. Mary’s.
Watching my grandmother’s hands
as she played the organ,
more moved by the power she had
than anything the priests said.

I’m from the state everyone drives through
to get to the rest of New England.
From Irish soda bread
and grilled cheese sandwiches with tomatoes and bacon.
From the wind named after my great uncle John
who died at sea,
and my grandmother’s estranged sister
living the next town over.

I’m from old photos tucked away in the attic.
I don’t need to look at them
to feel the softness of the earth
to see glimmers of the lake
through the cattails
to hear the peepers
calling to me.

✨Thank you, Michele, for your beautiful poem & our wonderful conversation!

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I loved both of the books Michele edited and I am looking forward to hearing her poem and chatting!

Join us tomorrow:

Where I’m From #245
With Michele Filgate
& Alyson Shelton
Monday, May 11th
@ 10am PT/ 1pm ET
On IG Live

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 at The New School.

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