Starting in November, writer Anna March will moderate an event series called Beyond Lolita: Literary Writers on Sex and Sexuality at five independent bookstores around the country. All five events will support the PEN America's Writers' Emergency Fund, with March donating $500 for each event. The event series will bring writers and editors together for roundtable discussions on sex and sexuality not only in their own work but also in literature and society at large. Among the writers booked for the series are Cheryl Strayed (Wild), Audrey Niffenegger (The Time Traveler's Wife), J. Ryan Stradal (The Kitchens of the Great Midwest), Salon's Laura Miller and poet Saeed Jones.
The first event will be held at Women & Children First in Chicago, Ill., on November 5, followed by an event at Skylight Books in Los Angeles, Calif., on November 19. The series will resume in January with stops in Portland, Ore., New York City and Boston.