Isaac Fitzgerald at Harvard Book Store

Harvard Book Store welcomes ISAAC FITZGERALD—frequent guest on The Today Show and author of the bestselling children’s book How to Be a Pirate—for a discussion of his new book Dirtbag, Massachusetts: A Confessional. He will be joined in conversation by SCAACHI KOUL—a senior culture writer at BuzzFeed News and the author of One Day We'll All Be Dead And None Of This Will Matter.

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 Dirtbag, Massachusetts

Isaac Fitzgerald has lived many lives. He's been an altar boy, a bartender, a fat kid, a smuggler, a biker, a prince of New England. But before all that, he was a bomb that exploded his parents' lives-or so he was told. In Dirtbag, Massachusetts, Fitzgerald, with warmth and humor, recounts his ongoing search for forgiveness, a more far-reaching vision of masculinity, and a more expansive definition of family and self.

Fitzgerald's memoir-in-essays begins with a childhood that moves at breakneck speed from safety to violence, recounting an extraordinary pilgrimage through trauma to self-understanding and, ultimately, acceptance. From growing up in a Boston homeless shelter to bartending in San Francisco, from smuggling medical supplies into Burma to his lifelong struggle to make peace with his body, Fitzgerald strives to take control of his own story: one that aims to put aside anger, isolation, and entitlement to embrace the idea that one can be generous to oneself by being generous to others.

Gritty and clear-eyed, loud-hearted and beautiful, Dirtbag, Massachusetts is a rollicking book that might also be a lifeline.

Praise for Dirtbag, Massachusetts

“Vulnerable, revealing, and tender, Fitzgerald's Dirtbag, Massachusetts has it all-faith, sex, fear, resilience, and love. His is a story of a real American family and a beautiful and creative American son.” ―Min Jin Lee, author of the National Book Award Finalist Pachinko

“Any fool can confess. It's the rare writer who reveals, and Dirtbag, Massachusetts is a heart on the sleeve, demons in check, eyes unblinking, unbearably sad, laugh-out-loud funny revelation.” ―Marlon James, Booker Prize-winning author of Moon Witch, Spider King

“Isaac Fitzgerald lays himself bare in this stunning memoir, stripping off all the things that no long serve him. Raw, vulnerable, and powerful, this book will be a key in the lock of many hearts and minds.” ―Emma Straub