Author Denise Tolan will be signing copies of her memoir, Italian Blood on Saturday, November 4th at Patchouli Joe's!
Denise Tolan's writing has been published in various journals and collections, including The Penn Review, Atlas and Alice, Hobart, Lunch Ticket, and The Best Small Fictions 2018. Denise was a finalist for Best of the Net 2022 and both the 2018 and 2019 Penelope Niven Creative Nonfiction Awards. Denise lives and writes in San Antonio, Texas. You can find out about her obsession with survivors and Moby-Dick at www.denisetolan.com.
"I've heard that some volcanic eruptions are soft with oozing streams of lava dancing down the side of the volcano like a Las Vegas chorus line. My father's eruptions were quick, like bricks being thrown through a window."
Denise Tolan's memoir-in-essays traces the legacy of violence in an Italian American family, showing how abuse reverberates both in the body and mind and how everything is connected through literal and metaphorical blood. This raw, heartbreaking collection lays out how the origins of violence can infect the roots of a family tree, and reveals what eventually grows from those roots. Tolan asserts-in no uncertain terms-the importance of speaking out to break the lineage of family violence. Her essays offer a connection to anyone who suffered childhood shame, violence, or fear, and provide reassurance that they are not alone.
