P&P Live! Indie Press Night: Milkweed Editions — Aimee Nezhukumatathil, Makenna Goodman, and Joanna Demkiewicz with Liz Hottel

As an independent bookstore, Politics and Prose is committed to supporting the meaningful work of independent publishing houses. In a new virtual series, we will highlight different presses and the work they do in roundtable conversations with their authors and publishers, and delve into the challenges that they face in this moment as they fight to keep readers connected with the written word.

To inaugurate this series, we feature Milkweed Editions. Milkweed is an independent publisher of literary fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, whose mission is to identify, nurture, and publish transformative literature and build an engaged community around it.

We'll hear from two authors Aimee Nezhukumatathil and Makenna Goodman, as well as their Marketing Director, Joanna Demkiewicz, in conversation with P&P Director of Events and Marketing to talk about their new work, and the mission of Milkweed Editions.

Aimee Nezhukumatathil | World of Wonders

The author of this essay collection has called many places home: Kansas, where her Filipina mother was a doctor; Arizona, where she hiked with her Indian father; and the chillier climes of western New York and Ohio. But no matter where she’s been transplanted, she has always been able to turn to the fierce and funny creatures around her for guidance.

Makenna Goodman | The Shame

Alma and her family live a life close to the land—then, one night, she abruptly leaves it all behind. A fable both blistering and surreal, this is a propulsive, funny, and thought-provoking novel about a woman in isolation, whose mind—fueled by capitalism, motherhood, and the search for meaningful art—attempts to betray her.

Joanna Demkiewicz is the marketing director at Milkweed Editions and former publicist for the press. 


Liz Hottel is Director of Marketing and Events at Politics and Prose Bookstore.

Click here to join the Live! event