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Featured From The Blog
July 30, 2025
Immigrants & Politics in Aurora
Doorbell cam video of a pack of young men with guns, on a murderous hunt, gave a big boost to Donald Trump’s crusade against immigrants—and his presidential campaign. But how much truth lay behind the politics? I spent a lot of time in Aurora, Colorado, one of my original journalism training grounds, finding out for The New York Times Magazine.
Blog Entry
June 20, 2025
I wrote an essay about a poet I first discovered in seventh grade English class. Richard Brautigan, in that poem, seemed to be speaking directly to me—that made me remember him, and when I saw that he had written a novel, In Watermelon Sugar, I devoured it. And kept on devouring, as he wrote new books.
Blog Entry
February 10, 2025
Going on a talk show in Barcelona
My book “Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing,” now 25 years old, recently was translated into Catalán, thanks to an enterprising publisher in Barcelona. A TV talk show there heard about it and brought me over for an interview last month. (starts about 30 seconds into video.)
Blog Entry
January 18, 2025
A magazine asked my thoughts about the new movie “Sing Sing,” which follows a group of prisoners as they stage plays for the public. (Short answer: see it!)
Blog Entry
November 1, 2024
An esteemed publisher invited me to lunch with his staff in the Financial District to talk about what I do. David Steinberger and his team asked great questions and later asked if he could put the conversation online.
Blog Entry
July 23, 2024
The Vintage Books paperback edition of Cheap Land Colorado is out now. It features a new epilogue with updates on the main people in the book. Here’s where I’m scheduled to read from and sign copies of this new edition:
Blog Entry
February 22, 2024
I wrote for Outside magazine about the puzzling and tragic case of Rebecca Vance, who believed from the internet that people were about to be turned into machines and took her 13-year-old son and her sister “off-grid” to be “safe” at a campsite at 10,000 feet.
Blog Entry
April 2, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed my conversation with writer Lisa Wells, recently out in The Common.
Here are some places I’m excited to be speaking this summer:
Featured From The Blog
February 12, 2023
The land I write about (and now own a piece of) was sold in the 1970s by mail. It was so cheap that people usually bought it sight unseen, from newspaper ads: $30 down and $30 a month for 12 years was a common deal. The federal government said it was a fraud, and this TV investigation from the time seems to agree. (Click READ MORE to go to YouTube.)
Featured From The Blog
January 30, 2023
More talks and appearances coming up this year. (Check back soon—additional dates on the way!)
Blog Entry
October 24, 2022
The days of the virtual book tour are behind us—I’ll be speaking and signing books in person at these wonderful places in coming weeks. Please stop by and say hello.
Blog Entry
May 17, 2022
My new book about life off-grid in Colorado’s San Luis Valley comes out this fall, and I’m super excited about it. Cheap Land Colorado: Off-Gridders at America’s Edge describes the unusual people who choose to live on that beautiful, lonely prairie…
January 18, 2018
My latest article is “The Strike That Brought MLK to Memphis,” in the January 2018 issue of Smithsonian Magazine. Dr. Martin Luther King came to Memphis to support striking sanitation […]
Appearances
March 28, 2017
To book an appearance, please email Jodi Solomon Speakers, or call them at (617) 266-3450.
Appearances
March 28, 2017
MARCH 28, 2017, 7:00 PM Reading and Q&A Connecticut College, New London, CT To book an appearance, please email Jodi Solomon Speakers, or call them at (617) 266-3450.
Appearances
February 28, 2017
Frank B. Hanes Writer-in-Residence Reading
FEBRUARY 28, 2017, 7:30 PM Frank B. Hanes Writer-in-Residence Reading University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill To book an appearance, please email Jodi Solomon Speakers, or call them at […]
Appearances
February 23, 2017
FEBRUARY 23, 2017, 7:30 PM Talk & Book Signing [words] Bookstore, 179 Maplewood Avenue, Maplewood, NJ 07040 To book an appearance, please email Jodi Solomon Speakers, or call them at […]