Rewriting Your Story with Nicole Graev Lipson & Virginia DeLuca [02/09/26]

An evening for aspiring memoirists reshaping the narratives we inherit and the ones we live. In conversation with Laura Zigman.

Have a story you’ve been meaning to write or rewrite? Join us for a thoughtful, inspiring evening with memoirists Nicole Graev Lipson and Virginia DeLuca as they talk about shaping the stories we inherit, the ones we survive, and the ones we choose to tell.

In conversation with acclaimed author and moderator Laura Zigman, Nicole and Virginia will dive into the art of memoir: finding your voice, making sense of change, and putting lived experience onto the page. These techniques will be contextualized through the lens of their own releases:

Mothers and Other Fictional Characters — In this honest and intimate USA Today bestseller, Nicole Graev Lipson untangles what it means to be a woman, a lover, a partner, and a mother in a world all too ready to reduce us to stock characters.
If You Must Go, I Wish You Triplets — an unflinching exploration of love and relationships from a woman who ultimately found that life can expand in imagined and unanticipated ways by Virginia DeLuca.

The discussion will be followed by an audience Q&A, helping untangle the curiosities that arise while working on (or dreaming about) a memoir of your own.

Afterward, stick around for a book signing, and feel free to bring a notebook. We’ll invite you to settle into a cozy corner of the store and start sketching out your own story while the ideas are still buzzing. We’ll have writing prompts on hand to help you get started.

Whether you’re an aspiring writer or simply love a great conversation about storytelling and life, this is an evening for anyone curious about the power of memoir.

EVENT DETAILS

6:30 PM: Doors Open – Settle in, grab a drink from our cafe and wine bar, and get ready for a great discussion!
7:00 PM: Discussion Begins – Nicole and Virginia will dive into the art of memoir.
7:30 PM: Q&A Session – You’re invited to submit questions in advance to help guide the information you’d most like the authors to share!
8:15 PM: Writing Corner and Signing – Meet the authors, get your book signed, and snap a photo. Afterwards, settle into a cozy corner of the store and start to see your own story unfold with guided writing prompts.
8:30 PM: Last call - Grab your final pour from the wine bar.9:00 PM: Event Wraps Up – Thanks for joining us!

ACCESSIBILITY

Check-in will take place at our front entrance on Brattle Street. If you have any accessibility needs, you're welcome to use our side entrance (located on the right side of the building), which is wheelchair accessible and has a ramp.

Guests who would benefit from priority seating or any additional assistance are encouraged to reach out in advance — just email us at [email protected]. We're more than happy to make arrangements to ensure you feel comfortable and supported.

We’re always learning and looking for ways to make our events more accessible. If you have suggestions or feedback, we’d love to hear from you!

BOOK PICKUP POLICY

If you purchased a book with your event ticket but can’t make it to the event—and don’t request a refund—we’ll happily hold your book for pickup for up to 30 days after the event date.

We’ll be in touch via the email you provided at checkout to help coordinate pickup. After 30 days, if we haven’t heard from you or made other arrangements, we’ll consider the book abandoned property and may donate it or return it to inventory so it can find a new home.

Thanks so much for your understanding and for supporting our events—we love doing this with you!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nicole Graev Lipson is the USA Today bestselling author of the memoir in essays Mothers and Other Fictional Characters. Her writing has appeared in The Sun, Virginia Quarterly Review, Alaska Quarterly Review, LA Review of Books, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, among other venues. Her work has been awarded a Pushcart Prize, selected for The Best American Essays, and shortlisted for a National Magazine Award. Lipson received her MFA in Creative Writing from Emerson College and lives outside of Boston with her family.

ABOUT MOTHERS AND OTHER FICTIONAL CHARACTERS

What does it take to escape the plotlines mapped onto us? Searching for clues in the work of her literary foremothers, Lipson untangles what it means to be a girl, a woman, a lover, a partner, a daughter, and a mother in a world all too ready to reduce us to stock characters. Whether she’s testing the fragile borders of fidelity, embracing the taboo power of female friendship, escaping her family for the solitude of the mountains, or letting go of the children she imagined for the ones she’s raising, Lipson pushes beyond the easy, surface stories we tell about ourselves to brave less certain territory.

Risky and revealing, nourishing and affirming, rigorous and sexy, Mothers and Other Fictional Characters is a shimmering love letter to our forgotten selves—and the ones we’re still becoming.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Virginia DeLuca is a therapist and the author of If You Must Go, I Wish You Triplets, a candid, funny, and emotionally rich memoir about divorce and reinvention in her 60s. She published her debut memoir at 72, proving it’s never too late to tell your story. Her writing resonates with readers navigating heartbreak, identity shifts, and the complicated freedom that comes with starting over. A graduate of GrubStreet’s 2020 Memoir Incubator, Virginia’s work has been featured in The New York Times, Modern Love, The Boston Globe, Vulture, and The Huffington Post. She lives in Boston and believes emotional resilience is built through humor and friendship.

ABOUT IF YOU MUST GO, I WISH YOU TRIPLETS

Sometimes, we know the least about those we love the most.

When Virginia DeLuca’s sixty-year-old husband abruptly walked out on their serene and happy—even joyful—marriage, proclaiming a sudden desire to have babies, everyone had a theory. He already knocked someone up. Nervous breakdown. Brain tumor. DeLuca, a psychotherapist, spent decades helping clients cope with sudden losses and dramatic changes—and now it’s happened to her. Now, she must hunt to find the truth of her own story.

If You Must Go, I Wish You Triplets is an unflinching exploration of love and relationships from a woman who ultimately found that life can expand in imagined and unanticipated ways.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Laura Zigman is the author of six novels, including Small World, Separation Anxiety (which was optioned by Julianne Nicholson and the production company Wiip (Mare of Easttown) for a limited television series); Animal Husbandry (made into the movie Someone Like You, starring Hugh Jackman and Ashley Judd), Dating Big Bird, Her, and Piece of Work. She has ghostwritten/collaborated on several works of non-fiction, including Eddie Izzard's New York Times bestseller, Believe Me; been a contributor to the New York Times. She lives in Cambridge, where she helps clients via Zoom, phone, and sometimes in person with their writing and is at work on two new novels.

Rewriting Your Story with Nicole Graev Lipson & Virginia DeLuca

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Comedy at Summer Shack ($15 + Free Parking!)

Summer Concert Series & Beer Garden

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Rewriting Your Story with Nicole Graev Lipson & Virginia DeLuca

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Sponsored events

Climb to the Roof of Crane Estate & Explore Historic Ipswich | Save 15% with Code BOSCAL15

Comedy at Summer Shack ($15 + Free Parking!)

Summer Concert Series & Beer Garden

Atlantic Wharf's Summer Bash