Virtual Reading: Heather Lanier

Two years ago, I had the honor of serving on the hiring committee for a new tenure-track Assistant Professor of Creative Nonfiction. I feel fortunate that we hired Heather Lanier and that I can now call her colleague and friend.

In July 2020, Heather's new memoir Raising a Rare Girl was published by Penguin Press. Ordinarily, I would have been among the creative writing instructors in our department to organize an on-campus reading celebrating her book. But of course, the Covid-19 pandemic prevented such an event, not to mention any launch party or book tours for Heather. 

It was a thrill to host a live virtual reading in October on the Rowan University MA in Writing Facebook page. In spite of some technical difficulties getting started (it worked when we did a test run, I swear!) we had over 60 people join us live to hear Heather read from the book and to share in discussion. I monitored the comments as they came in and posed questions to Heather. What a joy to celebrate not just with our colleagues and students, but with friends, family, and members of the literary community near and far. 

You can check out the recorded reading here.

And you can buy Raising a Rare Girl and support local bookshops here.