Elisa Albert at Harvard Book Store

Update

This event has been rescheduled from July 18, 2022.

Harvard Book Store welcomes novelist and essayist ELISA ALBERT—author of After Birth—for a discussion of her new book Human Blues: A Novel.

A Return to In-Person Events

Harvard Book Store is excited to re-introduce in-person programming this season. To ensure the safety and comfort of everyone in attendance, the following Covid-19 safety protocols will be in place at all of our Harvard Book Store events until further notice:

• Face coverings are required of all staff and attendees when inside the store. Masks must snugly cover nose and mouth.

About Human Blues

On the eve of her fourth album, singer-songwriter Aviva Rosner is plagued by infertility. The twist: as much as Aviva wants a child, she is wary of technological conception, and has poured her ambivalence into her music. As the album makes its way in the world, the shock of the response from fans and critics is at first exciting—and then invasive and strange. Aviva never wanted to be famous, or did she? Meanwhile, her evolving obsession with another iconic musician, gone too soon, might just help her make sense of things.

Told over the course of nine menstrual cycles, Human Blues is a bold, brainy, darkly funny, utterly original interrogation of our cultural obsession with childbearing. It’s also the story of one fearless woman at the crossroads, ruthlessly questioning what she wants and what she’s willing—or not willing—to do to get it.

Praise for Human Blues

“Human Blues is filled with personality as Albert merges questions of fame and fertility into a thought-provoking exploration of agency and expression . . . Albert’s prose [has] distinct rhythm: It’s fast and sweet, with enough attitude to put Sleater-Kinney or even Lizzo to shame . . . [A] life-affirming howl into a wild world.” —BookPage

"[A] bighearted and riotously funny performance from Albert... The depth of feeling, range of ideas, and spiky provocations amount to a Bellow-worthy wave of blistering prose. By the end, it pummels the reader into submission.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"In Elisa Albert's engrossing new novel, Aviva [Rosner’s] struggles with fertility, her questions about parenthood, her ambivalence about fame, and her obsession with a gone-too-soon rock star combine to make a heartfelt, funny, brutal story about the things we choose to be and the things we end up becoming.” —Town & Country