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Winner of the 2025 Autumn House Rising Writer Prize! "Magdelena is Brighter Than You Think" by Grace Spulak (w/ Sara Tang)

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RSVP to attend in-store Register for Livestream We are thrilled to host Grace Spulak, Winner of the 2025 Autumn House Rising Writer Prize, for a celebratory reading from her prize-winning collection, Magdalena Is Brighter Than You Think! K-Ming Chang described the Spulak's debut as, “a breathtaking collection that is rooted in place, people, and the full scope of who you are and who you get to be...these stories gaze clear-eyed at what life is for those who are marginalized, but also what life can be. " Grace will be joined in conversation by local multidisciplinary artist, Sara Tang. Inventive and emotionally nuanced, Grace Spulak’s debut story collection explores the complexities of gender, queerness, trauma, and resilience through characters who live in the margins and imagine new ways to survive there. Pushing the boundaries of traditional narratives and forms, these stories suggest paths for picking up our pieces—and for transforming and escaping the realities that constrain us. A social worker becomes entangled in the life of a woman she’s meant to investigate, blurring the line between empathy and obsession. A veterinary student communes with a yak that seems to speak to her—if only she could understand its message. And a separating couple embarks on one last errand together to unburden themselves of an unsettling memento. Set in rural New Mexico—a place of isolation, strange beauty, and potential transformation—this collection offers unexpected flashes of grace and ho

Who

The book

  • Magdalena Is Brighter Than You ThinkGrace Spulak

Venue

White Whale Bookstore

4754 Liberty Avenue

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Listing sourced from White Whale Bookstore (original page). Details can change — confirm with the venue.