Molly Jong-Fast at the Cambridge Public Library

Harvard Book Store and the Cambridge Public Library welcome Molly Jong-Fast—contributing writer at Vanity Fair, political analyst at MSNBC News, and host of the podcast “Fast Politics”—for a discussion of her new book How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter's Memoir. She will be joined in conversation by Laura Zigman—author of six novels, including the bestsellers Small World, Separation Anxiety, and Animal Husbandry.

RSVP for free to this event or choose the "Book-Included" ticket to reserve a copy of How to Lose Your Mother and pick it up at the event. Molly Johng-Fast will sign copies of her book after the presentation.

Note: Books bundled with tickets may only be picked up at the venue the night of the event, and cannot be picked up in-store beforehand. Ticket holders who purchased a book-included ticket and are unable to attend the event will be able to pick up their book at Harvard Book Store up to 30 days following the event. This offer expires after 30 days. Please note we cannot guarantee signed copies will be available to ticket holders who do not attend the event.

From the political writer and podcaster, a ferociously honest and disarmingly funny memoir about her elusive mother’s encroaching dementia and a reckoning with her complicated childhood.

Molly Jong-Fast is the only child of a famous woman, writer Erica Jong, whose sensational book Fear of Flying launched her into second-wave feminist stardom. She grew up yearning for a connection with her dreamy, glamorous, just out of reach mother, who always seemed to be heading somewhere that wasn’t with Molly. When, in 2023, Erica was diagnosed with dementia just as Molly’s husband discovered he had a rare cancer, Jong-Fast was catapulted into a transformative year.

How to Lose Your Mother is a compulsively readable memoir about an intense mother–daughter relationship, a sometimes chaotic upbringing with a fame-hungry parent, and the upheavals that challenge our hard-won adulthood. A pitch-perfect balance of acceptance and rage, humor and heart, How to Lose Your Mother tells a universal story of loss alongside a singular story of a literary life. This is a memoir that will stand alongside the classics of the genre.

Molly Jong-Fast is a contributing writer at Vanity Fair, a political analyst at MSNBC News, and host of the podcast Fast Politics. She is the author of three previous books. She lives in Manhattan.

Laura Zigman is the author of six novels, including Small World (a New York Times Group Text pick and Editor’s Choice), Separation Anxiety (which was optioned by Julianne Nicholson and the production company Wiip ("Mare of Easttown") for a limited television series); Animal Husbandry (which was made into the movie "Someone Like You," starring Hugh Jackman and Ashley Judd), Dating Big Bird, Her, and Piece of Work. She has ghostwritten/collaborated on several works of non-fiction, including Eddie Izzard's New York Times bestseller, Believe Me; and has been a contributor to the New York Times and other publications. She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Masks are encouraged but not required for this event.

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