Events

October 13, 2024, 4-5 pm

San Francisco Library Main Branch, Saroyan Gallery 

How do memoirists fill in the gaps when there are missing pieces in their research—for example, when the person with needed information died long ago or when gender, culture, language, or other barriers thwart the process? These obstacles require memoirists to get crafty. This might mean using creative nonfiction to write imagined scenes or even require lying, eavesdropping, and/or employing subterfuge to gain access to something off-limits. Susan Kiyo Ito, Margaret Juhae Lee, Grace Loh Prasad, and Leslie Absher will present how they used “unofficial” means to get at the truth, and, in essence, became spies in their own stories. Free. Register here.


May 5, 2024,4-6pm

27 Powers Court
Alameda, CA

Author Kristine S. Ervin sat down with Leslie Absher to discuss the release of her debut memoir Rabbit Heart which chronicles her mother’s brutal murder when she was eight. Ervin opens up to Absher about being a motherless daughter, the impact of her mother’s murder on her adolescence, her evolution as a feminist, and how writing can heal. Watch their conversation here.


October 14, 2023, 2-3 pm EST

Medford Public Library 
Medford, MA

Free Author talk at the library


October 12, 2023, 6-8 pm EST

The Coffee Spot 
Simsbury, CT 


October 8, 2023, 5-6:30 pm EST

Womencrafts
Provincetown, MA  


June 9, 2023, 6 pm PST

Manny’s
San Francisco, CA

 I am thrilled to speak with Leta McCollough Seletzky, author of The Kneeling Man: My Father’s Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (Counterpoint Press, 2023) about what it was like to be a spy’s daughter and have a father who kept his secrets close. 

Seletzky’s father was an undercover police officer in Memphis reporting on an activist group when Dr. Marin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Her book explores the process of coming to terms with her father’s role as a Black man investigating an activist group and later joining the CIA, and also as a father she struggled to know. Join us as we talk about our fathers and our journeys.


March 18, 2023 4-6PM PDT

Oakland LGBTQ Community Center
Oakland, CA

I am thrilled to read from Spy Daughter, Queer Girl at Oakland’s amazing LGBTQ Community Center for Women’s International History Month. 


April 11, 2023 6PM EST

Kelly Writers House
Philadelphia, PA

I am honored to speak at the Kelly Writers House. Founded in 1995 by a group of students, faculty, staff, and alumni, the Kelly Writers House is a 13-room house at 3805 Locust Walk on Penn’s campus that serves as a center for writers of all kinds from Penn and the Philadelphia region at large. It is an incredible artistic resource and I am delighted that I will be in conversation with journalist and author Kathryn Watterson. 


April 21, 2023 5:30PM EST

Fly Leaf Books
Chapel Hill, NC

I am delighted to come to Chapel Hill to read at fabulous Fly Leaf Books. 


April 22, 2023 11AM EST

McIntyre’s Books
Pittsboro, NC

 I look forward to reading at cozy McIntyre’s Books. 


April 23, 5:30 pm EST

Molly’s Bookstore
Melrose, MA

This event will be co-hosted by SpeakOUT Boston, the oldest LGBTQ+ speakers bureau in the country. “SpeakOUT is a community of speakers working to create a world free of homo-bi-trans-phobia and other forms of prejudice by telling the truths of our lives.” I’m honored to read from Spy Daughter, Queer Girl at Molly’s Bookstore as part of this unique community event. Join us!


April 28, 2023 7PM PDT

Madeira School Alumni Reunion Weekend
Gateway, VA

I am thrilled to do a book event at my high school for the upcoming Madeira School Reunion Weekend. I read at Madeira in the fall and the turnout was great. I was even trolled by a conservative anti-queer “educational org” on Twitter. I see that as a total success!


May 4, 2023 7PM PST

Great Good Place for Books
Oakland, CA

I am thrilled to read at Great Good Place for Books as part of this year’s Bay Area Book Festival, where I will be in conversation with Eric Newton, journalist, and husband to memoirist and journalist, Mary Ann Hogan, who died before her book Circle Way was published in 2022. I am honored to appear with Eric Newton and discuss Mary Ann’s journey to understand herself and her father, as well as share my own experiences understanding my own father. 


May 7, 12:30 – 1:30 pm PST

Bay Area Book Festival 2023
Berkeley, CA

I will be on stage for the memoir panel In Search of Our Fathers moderated by author Sylvia Brownrigg. It will include journalist Eric Newton, the husband of author Mary Ann Hogan who wrote the beautiful and lyrical memoir, Circle Way. Newton will share Hogan’s long-term journey in completing her memoir and coming to terms with herself and with her father, Bill Hogan, who was the former literary critic for the San Francisco Chronicle. I am equally excited to appear with Leta McCollough Seletzky, a National Endowment for the Arts 2022 Creative Writing Fellow. A litigator turned essayist and memoirist, Leta McCollough Seletzky will discuss her fascinating debut memoir, The Kneeling Man: My Father’s Life as a Black Spy Who Witnessed the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.


May 13, 2023 4PM PST

Alegio Chocolate
Palo Alto, CA

I am thrilled to come to Alegio to speak about the process of writing Spy Daughter, Queer Girl. Alegio sells artisanal chocolates – the cleanest and most delicious I have ever tasted. This will be a perfect pairing.


October 8 2023 details TBD

Womencrafts
Provincetown, MA

 I am thrilled to be a part of the annual Women’s Week of festivities in P-town this fall where I will be reading from at the wonderful feminist bookstore, Womencrafts. I used to shop there when I was in my 20s!


PAST EVENTS

October 11, 2022 7PM PDT

Book launch of Spy Daughter, Queer Girl hosted by Great Good Place for Books

I am excited to invite you to the book launch of Spy Daughter, Queer Girl hosted by Great Good Place for Books. I have the good fortune to be in conversation with Hilary Zaid, author of the novel Paper is White. The event will take place at the Montclair Presbyterian Church, 5701 Thornhill Rd in Oakland, at 7 pm on October 11. Please come and feel free to bring a friend. 


October 14, 2022 5PM CDT

The Twig in San Antonio, Texas.

I am pleased to be in conversation with fabulous cartoonist and author of PassportSophia Glock (who also grew up with CIA parents), on Friday, October 14, at 5 pm at the Twig. We look forward to sharing our experiences!


October 16, 2022 7PM CDT

Book People in Austin, Texas

I am thrilled to be in conversation with amazing cartoonist and author of PassportSophia Glock (who also grew up with CIA parents), on Sunday, October 16, at 7 pm at Book People, an awesome indie bookstore in Austin. I’m sure we’ll be swapping stories!


October 17, 2022 7PM PDT

Fabulosa Books in San Francisco California

I am pleased to be in conversation with amazing journalist Zara Stone, author of Killer Looks: The Forgotten History of Plastic Surgery in Prisons at Fabulosa Books (formerly Dog Eared Books) in the Castro on Monday, October 17, at 7 pm.


November 2, 2022 5:30PM EDT

TidePool Bookshop in Worcester Massachusetts

I am delighted to be reading on November 2nd, at Tide Pool Books in Worcester


November 3, 2022 12:30PM PDT

Secrets, Closets, & Spies: Michelle Meow’s Livestream at the Commonwealth Club of California

I will be speaking with Michelle Meow and John Zipperer in a virtual event at the Commonwealth Club of California, at 12:30 PDT. This is a rescheduled event. Please register via the link. It is an honor and I can’t wait! 


November 14 2022 7PM CDT

Scrawl Books in Reston Virginia

I am thrilled to be in conversation with Marc Polymeropoulos, who served in the Intelligence Community for 26 years and is the author of Clarity in Crisis: Leadership Lessons from the CIA.


Lost City Books in Washington D.C.

November 17, 2022 7:30PM EDT

I am incredibly pleased to be in conversation with Shady Rose at Lost City Books in Washington D.C. on November 17 at 7:30 pm.


November 19, 2022 4-6PM EST

Beneville Studios in New York City

I am thrilled to close out my book tour with a special in-person event in NYC at Beneville Studios. I will be in conversation with Jessica Pearce Rotondi, author of What We Inherit. It will be a candid conversation about what it’s like to search for answers and how to make peace with what can never be known.