So, that happened!

And what happens next?

So…that happened! It’s been a whirlwind of a few days over here, and I’m so excited to finally share that True Biz is Reese freakin’ Witherspoon’s April book club pick!

ID: Tan book cover with multicolored letters spelling out “True Biz” and a multicolored hand in a “d” handshape on the left side, with “Sara Novic” on the bottom right and a yellow and white Reese’s Book Club sticker above that.

I’d long had my eye on Reese’s Book Club as a reader, because I noticed that their materials about diversity always included disability. It may seem like a small thing, but it meant a lot, especially in a literary landscape that is quick to leave disabled people out of the conversation.

But more on that in a moment. For now: YAY! and some True Biz biz:

1. Thank you so much to all those who preordered or bought the book, and have shared with your friends. I so appreciate your support! If you haven’t had a chance yet, you can pick up a copy of True Biz from wherever you most like to buy books.
   
   Putting in a request at your local or school library is also really helpful! If you are enjoying the book and feel so moved, reviewing on Amazon, Goodreads, Target, etc. also help the book build momentum.
   

2. Upcoming In-Person Events
   4/13 6PM A Novel Idea, South Philadelphia In conversation with Liz Moore. Masks required, ASL interpretation provided.
   4/18 7PM Books Are Magic, Brooklyn In conversation with Crystal Hana Kim. Masks and proof of vaccination required. ASL interpretation provided. Tickets here.

3. Additional in-person and virtual events will be updated to this calendar.
   If you can’t make an event, but want to purchase a signed copy of True Biz, you can also buy one from A Novel Idea here.

Okay, back to the other thing.

I am truly thrilled that so many people will be able to access an authentic deaf story, maybe for the first time in their lives, through True Biz. And it also makes me hunger for more. In writing True Biz, I worked hard to craft a series of characters who all experience their deafness—and other facets of their identities—differently; in a world where deaf characters are so often tokenized, this was important to me.

But a few characters in a single book aren’t enough to tell the whole story. I am ready for an explosion of deaf stories, and for the visibility of those stories in the mainstream. I want for us what the brilliant Viet Thanh Nguyen has termed “narrative plentitude.”

Happily, there is work by deaf and hard-of-hearing authors already out there, waiting for you right this second, so I thought I’d take a moment to highlight some here. May we be a sliver of many, many more to come. I’m ready for my Deaf Bookshelf.

Toward Narrative Plentitude for Deaf Culture

Fiction:
Signs of Attraction, Laura Brown
Deaf Sentence, David Loge
"Night Moves,” Black Warrior Review, Ross Showalter and anything by Ross, really
Chattering (stories) Louise Stern

Memoir:
Deaf Utopia, Nyle DiMarco with Robert Siebert (forthcoming June 2022)
Mean Little Deaf Queer, Terry Galloway
Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law, Haben Girma
Continuum, Chella Man
I’ll Scream Later, Marlee Matlin
Being Seen: One Deafblind Woman’s Fight to End Ableism, Elsa Sjunneson
Sounds like Home, Growing Up Black and Deaf in the South, Mary Herring Wright

Poetry:
All the Names Given and Perseverance, Raymond Antrobus
"Collected Poems," Poetry Foundation, Jon Lee Clark
Deaf American Poetry, anthology Ed. Jon Lee Clark
Deaf Republic and Dancing in Odessa, Ilya Kaminsky
Country of Glass, Sarah Katz (forthcoming May 2022)
Once Upon a Twin, Raymond Luczak
Above the Birch Line, Pia Taavila-Borsheim

Young Adult/Middle Grade:
El Deafo (graphic memoir) Cece Bell
The Silence Between Us, Alison Gervais
Show Me A Sign, Ann Clare LeZotte
Unravel, Amelia Loken

Deaf Studies, History and Linguistics:
Open Your Eyes: Deaf Studies Talking (collected essays), Ed. H-Dirksen L. Bauman
The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL, Carolyn McCaskill
Deaf In America: Voices from a Culture, Carol Padden and Tom Humphries
"White Deaf Privilege Reading List," Medium, David Player
Hearing Happiness, Jaipreet Virdi

This list isn’t complete, and doesn’t even scratch the surface of of the talented deaf writers and artists working across other languages and mediums. Watch deaf visual poetry in ASL, buy deaf art, take ASL from a deaf teacher! Onward—toward narrative plentitude. -sn <0/