Deesha Philyaw, author of the critically acclaimed short story collection The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, will visit The University of Baltimore on Wednesday, Oct. 15 at 7 p.m. as part of the MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts Fall Reading Series. Philyaw will discuss the book in a conversation with UBalt Prof. D. Watkins.
The event, free and open to the public, will take place in the University's Wright Theater in the UBalt Student Center, 21 W. Mt. Royal Ave. A full house is expected; seating reservations are available here.
According to the author's website, the nine stories that make up The Secret Lives of Church Ladies "span four generations of characters grappling with who they want to be in the world, caught as they are between the church's double standards and their own needs and passions."
Based in Miami, Philyaw is the author of a series of columns in The Rumpus, titled Visible: Women Writers of Color, and, for Literary Mama, a series called The Girl is Mine. Her essays have also appeared in the Harvard Review, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
Philyaw's debut short story collection from 2020, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies, received great critical acclaim. UBalt's own Prof. Marion Winik said the collection "marks the emergence of a bona fide literary treasure" in The Minneapolis Star Tribune. A starred review in Kirkus Reviews called it "a collection of luminous stories populated by deeply moving and multifaceted characters.... Tender, fierce, proudly black and beautiful, these stories will sneak inside you and take root."
The Secret Lives of Church Ladies won the 2020 Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the 2021 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, and the 2020/21 Story Prize. It also was a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction.
A native of Jacksonville, Fla., Philyaw was working in corporate communications at a Pittsburgh-area bank when she decided to pursue her writing consultancy and freelance writing full-time. Her first book, Co-Parenting 101: Helping Your Kids Thrive in Two Households After Divorce, was written in collaboration with her ex-husband, Michael D. Thomas, and published in May 2013.
Philyaw is a Kimbilio Fiction Fellow, a Baldwin for the Arts Fellow, a United States Artists Fellow, and the co-host of two podcasts, Ursa Short Fiction (with Dawnie Walton) and Reckon True Stories (with Kiese Laymon). She is currently at work developing television shows based on her short fiction. Her debut novel, The True Confessions of First Lady Freeman, is expected in 2026.
A reception for Philyaw will follow in the Bogomolny Room, adjacent to the theater. The event is co-sponsored by the Ivy Bookshop.
The series is sponsored by the Hearst Visiting Scholars Fund and the Klein Family Fund.
Learn more about the MFA Fall Reading Series.