July 30, 2020

Sara Faith Alterman

Harvard Book Store's virtual event series welcomes SARA FAITH ALTERMAN—essayist, memoirist, and producer of the acclaimed stage show and podcast Mortified—for a discussion of her latest memoir, Let's Never Talk About This Again. She will be joined in conversation by MEREDITH GOLDSTEIN, author of the beloved Boston Globe advice column Love Letters.

Details

Twelve-year-old Sara enjoyed an G-rated existence in suburban New England, filled with over-the-top birthday cakes, Revolutionary War reenactments, and nerdy word games invented by her prudish father, Ira. But Sara's world changed for the icky when she discovered that Ira had been shielding her from the truth: that he was a campy sex writer who'd sold millions of books in multiple languages, including the wildly popular Games You Can Play with Your Pussy. Which was, to the naïve Sara's horror, not a book about cats. For decades the books remained an unspoken family secret, until Ira developed early onset Alzheimer's disease . . . and announced he'd be reviving his writing career. With Sara's help.

In this cringeworthy, hilarious, and moving memoir, Sara shares the profound experience of discovering new facets of her father; once as a child, and again as an adult. Let's Never Talk About This Again is a must-read confessional from a woman who spent years trying to find humor in the perverse and optimism in the darkness, and succeeded.

About Author(s)

Sara Faith Alterman is a Bostonian at heart and a San Franciscan at present. She's written for the New York TimesMcSweeney's, and the Boston Globe, as well as the anthologies Modern Loss: Candid Conversations About Grief and Not Quite What I Was Planning: Six Word Memoirs by Writers Famous and Obscure. Sara also produces Mortified, the acclaimed stage show, podcast, and Netflix series that features adults reading from their cringe-worthy teenage diaries. Let's Never Talk About This Again is her third book.

Meredith Goldstein is an advice columnist and entertainment reporter for The Boston Globe. Her advice column, Love Letters, has been a Globe favorite for more than a decade. She also hosts the Love Letters podcast; Season 4 is coming soon. Meredith’s books include her memoir, Can’t Help Myself;  the young adult novel Chemistry Lessons, about a teen who uses science to manipulate her love life; and The Singles, a novel about a group of dateless guests at a wedding. Meredith's next YA book, Things That Grow, will be released in 2021.