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Anne Burt, editor of My Father Married Your Mother: Writers Talk about Stepparents, Stepchildren, and Everyone in Between, will give a reading on May 9 from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m. at Labyrinth Books (536 W. 112 St.). Contributing writers Sheila Kohler, Ted Rose and Andrew Solomon also will read selections from the book.
The reading will be preceded by a reception from 5:00 to 6:45 p.m. in Alfred Lerner Hall (2920 Broadway, Broadway Room, 2nd Floor). To RSVP, contact Orit Darwish at (212) 854-1324 or od2123@columbia.edu.
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| The book was released on May 1. |
About the book: With the U.S. divorce rate hovering around 50 percent, most people recognize remarriage as a now-familiar occurrence. And remarriage often means stepfathers, -mothers, -brothers and -sisters, and the formation of a new type of blended family. Jacquelyn Mitchard, Barbara Kingsolver, Roxana Robinson, Susan Cheever and others share experiences of being stepdaughters, stepmothers or ex-wives. Andrew Solomon writes about his relationship with his stepmother. Kate Christensen celebrates the stepfather who brought guidance to her life. There are essays from writers in the same family, each with a different take on his or her post-nuclear situation: Phyllis Rose discusses her second husband's qualities as a stepfather, while her son, Ted Rose, writes about his tumultuous relationship with his stepbrother from his own father's remarriage. These poignant, heartfelt, sometimes biting tales remind us of the outdated myth of the perfect nuclear family and shed light on what it means to forge relationships with stepfamily members.
Burt's writing has appeared in Salon.com, Parenting and Working Mother. She was awarded the Meridian Literary Magazine 2002 Editors' Prize in fiction and received an M.A. in creative writing from New York University. Burt also works as an officer in the Office of Public Affairs at Columbia and lives with her husband, daughter and stepdaughter in Montclair, New Jersey.
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