Author Event! Amra Brooks' "Mother Is a Place"

Amra Brooks comes to Symposium to discuss her new memoir, "Mother Is a Place"! Join us on Thursday, November 5th at 6pm as we host Amra Brooks in conversation with Sam Cohen to discuss her new memoir, Mother Is a Place. Signed copies of the book will be available for purchase. About the book: Mother is a Place, details one girl's dogged search for safety and care, a pursuit that brings her from idyllic literary studies to nannying for an iconic, out-of-control rock star, from her mysteriously collapsing body to the defiant tenderness of motherhood. Says Girlhood author Melissa Febos, Mother Is a Place is “a beautiful and finely told story of becoming; this memoir is both map and guide—to bearing what we are given, the path to home, and all that is possible to build ourselves.”‘A rocking, rolling, revolutionary story that breaks previous mother tropes open to reveal a mind-blowing truth’ - –Lidia Yuknavitch, bestselling author of The Chronology of Water ‘Straightforward yet surreal, punk yet soft, kinetic yet somehow at peace, Mother Is a Place is an engrossing, passionate memoir lush with hard-earned wisdom.’ -Maggie Nelson, author of The Argonauts ‘This is the kind of book you just drink.’ -Eileen Myles, poet, novelist, author of Chelsea Girls ‘Brooks has written a genuine, compelling bildungsroman, an unforgettable story. It’s a wonderful book.’- Lynne Tillman, author of Men and Apparitions and Mothercare ‘Brooks writes with a clear, steady lyricism about what happens when children are asked to take on the work of adults and how we slowly build a self, and a family, that can finally hold us.’ -Alex Auder, author of Don’t Call Me Home ‘Amra’s voice and words come like the breathy whisper of a good witch, instantly prophetic and relatable.’ -Roddy Bottom, author of The Royal We About the author: Amra Brooks was born and raised in California. Her poetic memoir Mother Is a Place was released on September 15, 2026 with Dopamine Books. Her novella California was published by Teenage Teardrops in 2008. Her prose, poetry, and art writing has appeared in Artforum, Inventory, Khôra, Printeresting, index, This Long Century, the LA Weekly, and many other publications. She is currently a Professor and the director of the Creative Writing Program at Stonehill College where she curates the Raymo Literary Series. She lives with her family in Providence, RI. You can read more about her work here: https://www.amra-brooks.com/ About the moderator: Sam Cohen is the author of the surreal linked story collection Sarahland (Grand Central Publishing), which was longlisted for the California Golden Poppy Award and translated into French on Burn-Aout. Her fiction also appears in anthologies Be Gay, Do Crime (Dzanc, 2025), Queer Flora Fauna Funga (Valiz, 2026), and Sluts (Dopamine, 2024).