We’re excited to host Brian Trapp and Sara Jaffe for an evening of readings and conversation in celebration of their October book releases.

Brian Tapp’s novel Range of Motion is a comic yet poignant coming-of-age novel about twins, caregiving, and connection. It follows a pair of twins: Michael, the awkward “normal one,” and Sal, who is charming, mischievous, and has cerebral palsy, intellectual disabilities, and speech disabilities. The novel is partly based on my experience of growing up with my own twin brother Danny, who could only say 12 words but still found ways to express himself in profound ways. It’s a novel about the resilience of special needs families and the secret language of siblings (Acre Books)

Brian Trapp is director of disability studies at the University of Oregon, where he also teaches fiction and nonfiction. His work has been published in the Kenyon Review, Southern Review, Longreads, Brevity, and elsewhere. He has been a Steinbeck Fellow, a Borchardt Scholar, and an Elizabeth George grant recipient. He grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, with his twin brother, Danny

Sara Jaffe’s collection of stories, Hurricane Envy explore the textures and tensions of contemporary life, pressing on our ambivalence, how we belong to but differ from the world around us. Characters struggle to be perceived by others as they perceive themselves--as an authentic artist, a "good white person," a legitimate parent. Jaffe brings her keen eye and her formal ingenuity to subjects that range from queer parenting, to the rise of the algorithm in the music industry, to gentrification and institutional claims on art, to post-punk culture, anti-Zionist Jewish identity, the rhetoric and realities of American safety (Rescue Press)

Sara Jaffe is a writer, educator, and musician living in Portland, OR. Hurricane Envy is her second book. Dryland, a novel, was published by Tin House Books and Cipher Press (UK ). Her short fiction, essays, and criticism have appeared in publications including Joyland, Fence, BOMB, NOON, and Maggot Brain. She co-edited The Art of Touring (Yeti, 2009), an anthology of writing and visual art by musicians drawing on her experience as guitarist for post-punk band Erase Errata. She is a proudly anti-Zionist Jew working for Palestinian liberation