Letting in Air and Light has been selected as one of three nominees for the 2025 One Book One New Orleans‘s citywide reading and literacy outreach! Voting takes place here.

I was overwhelmed with the reception of Letting in Air and Light at the New Orleans Museum of Art’s Book Club meeting for September and astounded by their insights. And on top of that, I was given wonderful gifts as a thank-you from the museum! A huge thank you to everyone.

P.S. The first two photos are from my visit to NOMA for a gallery talk on Clementine Hunter in August. When I returned for the book club, the last copies of my book in the gift shop had been sold!

I’m looking forward to interacting with members of the NOMA Book Club next month, September 19, at noon. More information can be found here, as well as information here about gallery talks this Wednesday with curator Lisa Rotondo-McCord on Clementine Hunter in relation to the upcoming book discussion.

Gallery Talk on Clementine Hunter with Curator Lisa Rotondo-McCord

Wed, August 21st at 12:30 PM

Join Lisa Rotondo-McCord, NOMA’s Deputy Director and Curator of Asian Art, for a discussion of Clementine Hunter in connection with September’s NOMA Book Club pick Letting in Air and Light by author Teresa Tumminello Brader. This talk will be offered at 12:30 pm.

Free with museum admission. Louisiana residents receive free admission on Wednesdays courtesy of The Helis Foundation’s Art for All initiative.

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Book Club Discussion | Letting in Air and Light

Thu, September 19th at 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM

A big thank you to Nikki Ummel and Michelle Nicholson of LMNL Arts for including me in their monthly reading series, at the Domino last Sunday, June 23rd. The event was so much fun, and it was a pleasure meeting and listening to the other readers: Kelsey Wartelle, Danny Fitzgerald, and Brooke Champagne.

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MER is now featuring my review of Ruined a Little When We Are Born by Tara Isabel Zambrano, out from Dzanc Books in October.

A big thank you to the Southern Nights Book Club — such an engaged, enthusiastic group! — for choosing my book for their May read and for inviting me to be their guest at their meeting at the Latter Library in uptown New Orleans.

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Next event: June 23, 6 PM: LMNL Reading Series

I visited Mandeville twice this month for two separate events: First, on April 6, for a presentation to an engaged audience at the Causeway Branch of the St. Tammany Parish Library system; thank you to Adult Programming Coordinator Jillian Boudreaux for facilitating and for being so welcoming. Second, on April 20, a book signing at the Barnes and Noble; thank you to the patrons for such interesting conversations, and to Tammy for coordinating and checking up on me. I look forward to returning.

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And thanks to Cavalier House Books (one of the best bookstores I’ve ever had the pleasure to be in, much less have host me during an event) for continuing to carry my book in their wonderful store in Denham Springs.

Thanks to the great audiences at the charming Hubbell Library in Algiers Point, New Orleans, on March 12 (my first completely solo event!), and the prestigious Tennessee Williams & New Orleans Literary Fest (my dream fest!) on March 22, for such enjoyable experiences.

Photos from the Tennessee Williams Fest: my book next to Miles Harvey’s, the wonderful moderator of my panel at TWF; fellow Belle Point Press author Kirsten Reneau at the Saints and Sinners LGBTQ+ Literary Fest; me and Rose Norman at our TWF panel; authors Edward Cahill, Julia Malye, Maurice Ruffin, Wendy Chin-Tanner, and Colm Toíbín; authors Tara Masih and Nick Medina; another of me and Rose, this time with fellow panelist Jubi Arriola-Headley to the left; out of the frame are the wonderful Chin-Sun Lee and our moderator Miles Harvey.

Thank you to writer/reviewer Joan Elizabeth Bauer for the lovely review of Letting in Air and Light.

“Letting in Air and Light recalls Sarah M. Broom’s National Book Award-winning memoir of New Orleans, The Yellow House, in which a matriarch’s efforts to patch up the flaws in her house enact the struggle to keep a disparate family whole.”

Joan Elizabeth Bauer

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Some photos from my book event/party this past Wednesday: Windowsill Pies is an amazing shop and one of the co-owners and bakers, Nicole Eiden, is also an amazing writer. If you’re in New Orleans, you can’t go wrong visiting Marielle Dupré and Nicole’s Windowsill Pies on Freret Street.

A big thank you to CRAFT for the opportunity to talk about the writing of Letting in Air and Light on their lovely site.

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It’s exciting to see my book in libraries (thanks to my daughter for these photos). My book launch was at a library, and I’ll be doing two other library events in March and April.