Tables of Contents March 11th: Aguda! Jaramillo! Wolfgang-Smith!

Back at Insa for our March reading, plus a residency gathering in Cold Spring on March 15th!

Readers of Content,

Thanks to everyone who came to our reading on February 11th with Terrance Hayes, Tao Leigh Goffe, and Adam Haslett. It was truly a warm glowing ember tucked inside a dark month. We ate beet ‘blood’-splattered eggs and bacon, juk garnished with a sharp line of ‘fire ants’ (chicatana chili crisp), and a sundial of four varieties of sliced pears inviting us to a close consideration of individuality, tension, and texture.

Tuesday’s conversation in particular was one of our favorites, studded with nuggets of wisdom, wit, and perspective, from discussions of takeout food & takeout love; rejections of literary aversions and a commitment to a radically open palate; and some of our most memorable answers to “What taste do you want to leave in your readers’ mouth?” including mirrored responses from Tao (a lingering indigestion as a catalyst to re-consideration and action) and Terrance (something stuck in your teeth that you can’t quite stop tonguing at throughout the day.)

We're excited to have an equally rich lineup for our next reading, back at Insa on Tuesday March 11th from 7-9pm featuring 'Pemi Aguda (Ghostroots), Luis Jaramillo (The Witches of El Paso), and Olivia Wolfgang-Smith (Mutual Interest). Learn more about the authors below and grab your ticket to join us!

'Pemi Aguda is from Lagos, Nigeria. She has an MFA from the Helen Zell Writers’ Program at the University of Michigan. Her writing has won O. Henry Prizes, a Nommo Award for Short Story, a Henfield Prize, a Tyson Prize for Fiction, Hopwood Awards, and the Writivism Prize. Her work has been supported by an Octavia Butler Memorial Scholarship, a Juniper Summer Workshop scholarship, an Aspen Words Emerging Writer fellowship, and her novel-in-progress won the 2020 Deborah Rogers Foundation Writers Award. She was a 2021 Fiction Fellow with the Miami Book Fair, a 2022 MacDowell fellow, and is the current Hortense Spillers Assistant Editor at Transition Magazine.

Luis Jaramillo is the author of The Witches of El Paso. He is also the author of the award-winning short story collection The Doctor’s Wife. His writing has appeared in Literary Hub, BOMB Magazine, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and other publications. His honors include fellowships from Aspen Words, the Sewanee Writers Conference, and the New York Institute for the Humanities. He is an assistant professor of creative writing at The New School. He received an undergraduate degree from Stanford University and an MFA in creative writing from The New School.

Olivia Wolfgang-Smith’s debut novel, Glassworks, was was longlisted for the Center for Fiction and VCU Cabell First Novel Prizes and named a Best Book of the Year by NPR, Apple, and Good Housekeeping. Her second novel, Mutual Interest, was just released by Bloomsbury this year. She is a 2024 NYSCA/NYFA Artist Fellow in Fiction and lives in Brooklyn with her partner.

Each ticket includes three small dishes inspired by the passages, and one complimentary drink. Additional drinks will be available for purchase. Our friends Sammi and Olivia of Cocktails in Color will be mixing up cocktails inspired by the books (plus an extra inspired by their new book, Spirited Women!), so you'll want to make room for a couple! And the good folks at Books Are Magic will be with us selling books, so come ready to pick up a few copies.

We do have a handful of seats reserved for sliding-scale admission to keep these events as financially accessible as possible. Please let us know if this ticket price is prohibitive for you and we’ll find a way to get you a seat at the table. These sliding scale seats are limited, so please be thoughtful about your resources and needs when making a request.

For more information on physical accessibility at Insa or any other questions, please write us at biscuits@tablesofcontents.org.

We can accommodate gluten-free and vegetarian diets with advance notice. If you have other restrictions or aversions you are of course still encouraged to attend, you just may not be able to partake in every course. Please be sure to notify us of any serious allergies in advance and remind us at the event.

Can't wait to see you all March 11th back at Insa!

TOC

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On Our Shelves

• Our 2025 Winter/Spring TOC Residents begin their residency at Glynwood this coming week! We’re thrilled to welcome Emma Murdock and Solange Azor to our three-week residency program. We’ll be holding a closing event on March 15th, save the date if you’re able to join us for drinks, snacks, and conversation at Glynwood that afternoon.

• Our inaugural Regenerative Residency resident Giada Scodellaro’s forthcoming book Ruins, Child was just named the winner of the Novel Prize, a prestigious award that comes with a $10,000 cash prize and simultaneous publication in North America (New Editions), UK (Fitzcarraldo), and Australia & New Zealand (Giramondo) in 2026. It’s amazing to see this book, which Giada spent time on at the TOC Residency, receive such an honor!

• Grateful for the voices of so many authors speaking light and reason into the madness these days; especially recommend Sarah Thankam Mathews’ newsletter, Alexander Chee, and Mira Jacob for some wisdom, steadying, and catalyzing.

• Our favorite colorful cocktail duo Olivia and Sammi’s new illustrated cocktail book Spirited Women, which highlights and celebrates women who have shaped the spirits industry, is out March 4th! We’ll be sharing more about it, but go ahead and pre-order and check out some of their book tour events in NYC and beyond!

Little Egg GM Nora Kaye (screenwriter & filmmaker) and server Jeanna Scotti (playwright & 2025 MacDowell fellow) are hosting a casual writing workshop for creatives working in the service industry this Thursday evening at Little Egg. Sign up to join!