Ann Zhao, author of Dear Wendy, in conversation with Sara Farizan
When:
Wednesday, Apr 17, 2024 7:00p -
8:00p
Wednesday, Apr 17, 2024 7:00p -
8:00p
Where:
Porter Square Books
25 White St.
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140
Admission:
FREE
Hosted by:
Categories:
Event website:
https://www.portersquarebooks.com/event/ann-zhao-author-dear-wendy-conversation-sara-farizan
Porter Square Books is thrilled to welcome Ann Zhao for her debut novel Dear Wendy! Author Sara Farizan will join Zhao in conversation. This event will take place on Wednesday, April 17 at 7pm at Porter Square Books (25 White St. Cambridge, MA 02140).
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Dear Wendy's Sophie and Jo, two aromantic and asexual college students, engage in an online feud while unknowingly becoming friends in real life, in this dual POV Young Adult contemporary debut from Ann Zhao
Sophie Chi is in her first year of college (though her parents wish she'd attend a “real” university rather than a liberal arts school) and has long accepted her aroace (aromantic and asexual) identity. She knows she’ll never fall in love, but she enjoys running an Instagram account that offers relationship advice to students at her school. No one except her roommate can know that she’s behind the incredibly popular “Dear Wendy” account.
When Joanna “Jo” Ephron (also a first-year aroace college student) created their “Sincerely Wanda” account, it wasn’t at all meant to take off or be taken seriously—not like Wendy’s. But now they might have a rivalry of sorts with Wendy’s account? Oops. As if Jo’s not busy enough having existential crises over gender identity, whether she’ll ever truly be loved, and the possibility of her few friends finding The One then forgetting her!
While tensions are rising online, Sophie and Jo grow closer in real life, especially once they realize their shared aroace identity and start a campus organization for other a-spec students. Will their friendship survive if they learn just who’s behind the Wendy and Wanda accounts?
Exploring a-spec identities, college life, and more, while perfect for fans of Alice Oseman’s Loveless, this is ultimately a love story about two people who are not—and will not—be in love!
Ann Zhao (she/her) is a graduate of Wellesley College, where she studied linguistics with a minor in women’s and gender studies. At various points in college, she participated in the student-run newspaper and the student-run radio station, processed interlibrary loans for the college library, and assisted in research for two linguistics labs, including one that wasn’t even at Wellesley. Doing all this was not good for her writing schedule.
Now taking a break before pursuing graduate education, Ann lives with her family in Illinois. She enjoys cooking, baking, and knitting, but she does not enjoy cleaning up after herself when she’s done with these activities. She collects cassette tapes of her favorite artists’ albums because vinyls feel like too much of a commitment. She is a big proponent of getting a good night’s sleep and an even bigger proponent of diverse representation in media.
Sara Farizan (she/her) is the award-winning author of the young adult novels Dead Flip, Here to Stay, Tell Me Again How a Crush Should Feel, and the Lambda Literary award winning If You Could Be Mine, which was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 Best YA Books of All Time. She has short stories in the anthologies Fresh Ink, All Out, The Radical Element, Hungry Hearts, Come On In, and Fools in Love. She also writes middle grade books like the DC comics graphic novel, My Buddy Killer Croc and Opportunity Knocks from Scholastic. She was mentored by Chris Lynch when she got her M.F.A at Lesley University where she now teaches.
