Due to unforeseen circumstances, this event has been postponed. Stay tuned for future updates and announcements.

An iconic writer’s lapidary memoir of a life spent pursuing a dream of artistic truth while evading the truth of her own gender identity, until, finally, she turned to face who she really was.

Lucy Sante felt at home only when she moved to New York City in the early 1970s and found her people among a band of fellow bohemians. Some would die young, to drugs and AIDS, and some would become jarringly famous. Sante flirted with both fates, on her way to building an estimable career as a writer. But she still felt like her life a performance. She was presenting a façade, even to herself.

Join us for an intimate author event in the R&D Store as Sante brings a loving irony to her account of her unsteady first steps; there was much she found she still needed to learn about being a woman after some sixty years cloaked in a man’s identity, in a man’s world. A marvel of grace and empathy, I Heard Her Call My Name parses with great sensitivity many issues that touch our lives deeply, of gender identity and far beyond. Rye Howard, owner of local indie The Bear & Bee Bookshop leads the post-reading conversation.

Lucy Sante was born in Verviers, Belgium, and is the author of ten books, her first being Low Life (FSG, 1991). Sante’s other books include Evidence, The Factory of Facts, Kill All Your Darlings, The Other Paris, Folk Photography, and Maybe the People Would Be the Times. She is the recipient of a Whiting Award, Guggenheim and Cullman fellowships, an Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her writing on music, art and photography have earned her a Grammy, and an Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography. Sante has contributed to the New York Review of Books since 1981 and to many other publications. She recently retired after twenty-four years teaching at Bard College.

Make a Plan

A $5 ticket is required to reserve your space at this event. Space is limited. The cost of your ticket will be deducted from any book purchase made in The R&D Store the night of the event. Please retain your ticket or confirmation email as proof of your reservation.