Susanna Kwan on the lauded debut of AWAKE IN THE FLOATING CITY.

On Thursday October 23rd, I spoke with Susanna Kwan, whom some of my writers first met as a fellow student in my friend Michael David Lukas’s year-long workshop. The novel she was working on then, AWAKE IN THE FLOATING CITY, was published by Pantheon (PRH) this May to great accolades, including being long-listed for the Center for Fiction 2025 First Novel Prize, named a Best Book of the Spring by ELLE, a Best New Release of May by Alta, and a Most Anticipated Book of the Year by People, the San Francisco Chronicle, Electric Literature, Axios San Francisco, 7x7, and HeatMap.

If you missed our warm and candid chat in which we discussed not only writing but art, and writing as art, and how one stays true to it, you can watch the video here.

 
Susanna Kwan and the book cover of AWAKE IN THE FLOATING CITY

Susanna’s headshot by Adria Lo

 

October also saw me turning up with five author-and-writing-instructor friends to give Writing Tips and Tastes at the Dandelion Bookshop in Oak Park, Illinois. Its owner, Jamie Ericson, is one of my writing community. By wonderful coincidence, the partner of one of my Chicago friends rents the studio above Dandelion. They threw us a fabulous post-reading party. (Thanks, Mich!)

 
 


For those of you who would like to build closer writing communities of your own, here’s an offer from Poets & Writers.

 
 
 

Poets & Writers has been in the business of meeting writers’ needs for more than fifty years. We created Groups because we found that many writers long for creative community but have a hard time connecting with people who share their dedication to the craft. At Poets & Writers Groups, you’ll find:

  • Hundreds of writers, many of them published, looking for community

  • Easy ways to introduce yourself to other writers

  • Dozens of groups for poets, fiction writers, essayists, and memoirists

  • A simple, intuitive process for starting your own group

  • Tools for arranging meetings, sharing your work, and getting feedback

  • Resources for running an effective group and contributing in a way that is productive and satisfying

  • Clear community standards to ensure that the platform is inclusive and respectful

  • Real people—not anonymous online avatars

  • Access to P&W staff when you have questions or need guidance

 

If you want to start your own writers’ group in a simple grass-roots way but don’t know enough writers, give me a hoy and I would be happy to announce your call for writers in a future newsletter.

Until then, happy writing, and don’t forget to drop me a line if you have news to share!

Shirin

 
 
Shirin Bridges