Writing Update: My Essay "Grape Leaves" was Published in The Rumpus!

Update: I did a live reading of this essay and you can check out the video/audio below.

Happy Thanksgiving!*

*Actually, as much as I love food and hanging out with people I love, and practicing gratitude, I feel weird celebrating Thanksgiving because it feels like celebrating the genocide of Native people.

Anywayyy.

I’ve got a lot to be thankful for this year, including most recently that I had an essay published in one of my bucket list literary magazines: The Rumpus.

(If The Rumpus sounds familiar it’s because the magazine published a lot of Cheryl Strayed in the days before Wild.)

And they published an essay that’s dear to my heart, “Grape Leaves.” It’s about family, memory, grief, and making traditions your own. I hope you’ll give it a read and let me know what you think!

It means a lot to me when y’all support my writing by reading and sharing it, so this Thanksgiving I’m also thankful for you. Yes, you. Everyone who’s read this blog, commented, shared, told a friend… thank you.

(Also, remember that book I mentioned I’m writing? This essay is part of it.)

With gratitude and food hangovers,

Mandy