Good Trouble Reading Group – Selections from Letter to a Stranger
About the Event
For our next Good Trouble Reading Group, we’ll be discussing a selection of essays from Letter to a Stranger: Essays to the Ones Who Haunt Us, edited by Colleen Kinder.
Essayist and photographer Colleen Kinder sent an email to writers everywhere with a writing prompt: write a letter to someone from a past encounter who still haunts you, someone you never got to know. The responses poured in, from writers including Elizabeth Kolbert, Pico Iyer, Lauren Groff, Gregory Pardlo, Faith Adiele, Maggie Shipstead, Lia Purpura and many others, all written in the second person to a “you” who had an impact or made an impression on their lives. Organized by topics like Symmetry, Mystery, Gratitude, Wonder, Remorse and Farewell, the result is this unique and poignant collection. There is a letter to a first responder after a storm, a letter to a gambler met while on jury duty, letters to a waiter in Istanbul, a taxi driver in Paris, and dozens of others, illustrating how something as simple as a stranger’s glance, shared smile, or a question posed can change one’s life.
Email eden@lapl.org to read the selection online and for the Zoom link to attend.
For disability-related accommodations, please call (213) 228-7430 at least five business days prior to the event. The City will make every effort to accommodate requests received with less notice.
