Book Tour! Book Tour!

Come see me in real life or even on the Internet!

FRIENDS!

At long last, I'm here to let you know that my book We Tell Ourselves Stories: Joan Didion and the American Dream Machine will be published by Liveright in just under one month, on Tuesday, March 11! And I'm going on tour! Read on for more!

WHAT THE BOOK IS (AND ISN'T)

Almost exactly five years ago, I got the idea to write about America, and the way Hollywood has shaped America, through the lens of Joan Didion's work. That was well before she passed away in December 2021, and a lot of books about her have been published since then. But I think mine's unique: it's as much a biography of American movies and American political media as it is of Didion herself. It's been named one of the Most Anticipated Books of 2025 by the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Literary Hub, W Magazine, and The Millions, and I'm so excited to finally share it with you.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND ME

And yes, I am going on tour, reading from the book and having conversations with a whole array of dizzyingly smart people along the way. I'll be in Boston, New York, Washington DC, Los Angeles, Summerland, the Bay Area, Paris, and Albany, and probably a bunch of other places eventually. I'm keeping a list of events on my website and here is an amazing GRAPHIC!

Most are free, but require registration ahead of time. And the virtual event has an extra-special perk courtesy of my buddies at Image Journal. See below for a little bit on that.

WHERE YOU CAN FIND THE BOOK

The book will be available through whoever you use to get your books, like the wonderful Bookshop. But, please do pre-order if you're thinking of buying the book. It is much much much more helpful to me, and indeed to every author, if you pre-order rather than waiting for the book to come out. The best way to do this, from my perspective, is to pre-order through your local independent bookstore, which in turn encourages them to consider stocking the book on their shelf or putting it on a table, thereby selling more books. Everybody wins.

(Also great: request the book from your local library.)

SOME FINAL THOUGHTS

I had no way of knowing I'd be writing a book that would feel quite so urgent right now, but people who've read it already have told me it is, and for better or worse, I think they're right. But it's also fun to read, whether you don't know a single thing about Joan Didion or have read everything she's ever written and carry around that tote bag all the time.

Finally please, please do share this with literally anyone who might be interested -- in Joan, in America, in Hollywood, in the weird messy combination of it all.

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Brief roundup of tour locations and dates

• Feb 27, Skylark Bookstore, Columbia, MO (with Eric Hynes)

• March 7 & 9, Film Forum, New York, NY (introducing Play It As It Lays)*

• March 10, Harvard Bookstore, Boston, MA (with Bradford Winters)

• March 11, Barnes & Noble Atlantic Ave, Brooklyn, NY (with Isaac Butler)

• March 12, Virtual Event hosted by Image Journal (with Lauren Winner)**

• March 13, The Strand, Manhattan, NY (with Rachel Syme)*

• March 14, Politics & Prose, Washington, DC (with Dan Kois)

• March 15, Book Soup, Los Angeles, CA (with Justin Chang)

• March 16, Godmothers Bookstore, Summerland, CA (with Amy Nicholson)

• March 17, Mrs. Dalloway's Books, Berkeley, CA (with Lee Kravetz)

• March 18, Commonwealth Club, San Francisco, CA (with Kevin Smokler)

• March 20, NYU Creative Writing Lillian Vernon House, NY

• March 22, Museum of the Moving Image, Queens, NY (following A Star Is Born with Lauren Sandler)*

• March 28, Barnes & Noble Colonie Center, Albany, NY (with Linda Hall)

• March 30, The Orpheum, Saugerties, NY

• May 13, The American Library in Paris, France

* Ticket purchase required; see the event for details. (In some cases the tickets aren't available yet, but they will be.)

** This event is free, but Image Journal has generously offered a free subscription to their beautiful literary journal to those registrants who upload proof of pre-order to their website (like a screenshot of your receipt). More details here.