THIS EVENT IS SOLD OUT.

Joe Donahue, WAMC host of The Book Show, will be in conversation with Kinderhook author Chris Gibson about his new book, The Spirit of Philadelphia, a perspective on America’s story told through the history of ideas.

The Book Show recording will begin at 6 p.m. followed by light refreshments and a book signing. 

WAMC President and CEO Sarah Gilbert and Peter Hughes, WAMC Producer of On The Road, will also join, so come on over and help us welcome them to our little house of books!

From the first sentence, readers know if they are in confident, capable hands. The best writers establish authority immediately. By authority we mean that there is a clear sense of control, and that this confidence is earned with particular language, tone, detail, cadence, and, most importantly, by creating urgency, and answering the simple question of “why should I keep reading?” Based on 20 years of editing Tin House, where he received 20,000 submissions per year, Rob Spillman will guide you through how editors and agents read the first page of submissions, no matter the form or genre.

This Craft Talk Will Teach You How To:

• Read like an editor and agent.

• Make every word count.

• Understand opening gambits.

• Understand how the opening choices reverberate through an entire manuscript.

• Understand the mindset of “gate-keepers” receiving your work.

About Rob Spillman: Rob Spillman was the editor of Tin House Magazine from 1999-2019, is the recipient of the PEN Nora/Magid Award for Editing, and the author of the memoir All Tomorrow’s Parties.

About The Rough Notes Craft Talks: Named after Kinderhook’s 19th century broadsheet, The Rough Notes series, created by Kinderhook Books, is a collection of classes, workshops, and events designed by writers, for writers.

COST: $75

This is an in-person Craft Talk held at Kinderhook Books. You can register at Eventbrite or you can circumvent the Eventbrite fees by purchasing over the phone (518.217.2192) or stopping by the shop (10 Broad Street, Kinderhook).

From “one of our most profound writers of speculative fiction” (The New York Times), this “tense dystopian thriller” (Time) and “tender portrait of love and care in an uncertain world” (Esquire) is an urgent and unflinching portrayal of a woman’s fight for her family’s security in a world shaped by global warming and rapid technological progress.

In a near-future world addled by climate change and inhabited by intelligent robots called “hums,” May loses her job to artificial intelligence. Desperate to resolve her family’s debt and secure their future for another few months, she becomes a guinea pig in an experiment that alters her face so it cannot be recognized by surveillance.

Seeking reprieve from her recent hardships and her family’s addiction to their devices, May splurges on passes for her family to spend three nights respite in the Botanical Garden: a rare green refuge where forests, streams, and animals still thrive. But when her children come under threat, May is forced to put her trust in a hum of uncertain motives to save her family.

Written with “precision, insight, sensitivity, and compassion” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review), Hum is a “striking new work of dystopian fiction” (Vogue) that delves into the complexities of marriage, motherhood, and selfhood in a world compromised by global warming and dizzying technological advancement, a world of both dystopian and utopian possibilities.

Helen Phillips

Helen Phillips is the author of six books. Her novel The Need was a National Book Award nominee and a New York Times Notable Book. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award. Her collection Some Possible Solutions received the John Gardner Fiction Book Award. Her novel The Beautiful Bureaucrat was a finalist for the New York Public Library’s Young Lions Fiction Award and the Los Angeles Times Book Prize. A professor at Brooklyn College, she lives in Brooklyn

Paul Yoon

Paul Yoon is the author of six works of fiction, including, most recently, The Hive and the Honey, and Etna, which will be published in the summer of 2026 by Scribner. The Hive and the Honey, a collection of stories that traverse the globe, won the 20th annual Story Prize and was named a Time Top 10 Best Fiction Book of 2023. His stories have been published in The New Yorker, and he lives in Hudson.