Jayne Martin

“Above all, be the heroine of your life, not the victim.” —Nora Ephron

So I dreamed that I went to AWP Philly for the launch of my new memoir, “The Daddy Chronicles-Memoir of a Fatherless Daughter,” and while I was there I met up with uber amazing writers Jeannine Ouellette (The Part that Burns), Athena Dixon (The Incredible Shrinking Woman,”) Lilly Dancyger (Negative Space) and Gina Frangello (Burn the House Down) and we all said “Hey, let’s do a reading together.”

But wait! It wasn’t a dream at all! On Thursday, March 24th, Christina and Alex, the gracious folks at A Novel Idea on Passyunk Books, opened their arms and their store to host “Women’s Voices, Women’s Stories-A Night of Memoir.” And there I was. Reading with some of the writers I admire most.

Jeannine had written a lovely blurb for my book and she was the first I contacted when I came up with the idea. “Want to do a reading?” I said. “Sure!” Jeannine replied. Jeannine and Athena both publish with Split Lip Press and Athena was soon onboard, as well. Lilly’s book, like mine deals with her relationship with her father, so she was a great fit and I was thrilled when she said “Yes.” Gina wasn’t even sure she was going to come to AWP, but she and Jeannine had done a recent Zoom event together and when Jeannine told her what we were doing, she was all in.

Due to limited space advanced registration was required and the event sold out almost immediately. But Christina and Alex, being the cool people they are, recorded the entire event and you can see it here.

Sometimes, when you want it most, the stars do align to make dreams come true. It will be a night I remember and cherish forever.