Please come join us in welcoming author Molly McCloy to Big Blue Marble for the release of her newest memoir, Nine Grudges: The Spiteful Origins of the Happiest Dyke on Earth. Think the title sounds bombastic? How does this sound??
On the cusp of her 1993 college graduation in Olympia, Molly McCloy spends her time drunk and high, pulling dykey pranks, and thrashing in mosh pits--anything to avoid the troubled, working-class family she left behind in Arizona. But after a vivid nightmare involving her dad, Molly writes him a letter, asking him to apologize for nine instances of mental, verbal, and physical abuse. To her surprise, her dad writes back. Nine Grudges is the story of Molly's nine heartbreaking moments, her humor as a coping strategy, and her queerness as a source of joy. Celebrating dark victories snatched from the jaws of trauma, this book asks whether grudge-wielding is an act more powerful than forgiveness itself.
Molly will be reading from the memoir, followed by a Q&A with writer Jackie Domenus. Copies will be available for signing!
Molly McCloy is a four-time Moth StorySLAM winner and Lambda Literary Fellow. She won the 2023 Book Pipeline “Unpublished” contest for nonfiction. Her work has been featured in O magazine, excerpted in the Blue Mesa Review and Foglifter, and broadcast on The Best of Risk! podcast. She earned an MFA from The New School and teaches writing for the awesome students of Pima Community College. Reveling in the bright sunshine of a joy she once thought impossible, Molly lives in Tucson with her wife Rebecca and their dog, Princess Pinwheels of the Purple Mountains.
Jackie Domenus (she/they) is a queer writer and the host of the Queer & Trans Nonfiction Podcast. Their book, NO OFFENSE: A MEMOIR IN ESSAYS (ELJ Editions), was named a Finalist for a 2025 Publishing Triangle Award, a Finalist for an IPPY (Independent Publishing) Award, and a Notable Small Press Book of 2025 by Literary Hub. Jackie’s essays have appeared in HuffPost, Autostraddle, The Offing Mag, The Normal School, Pidgeonholes, Foglifter Journal, Variant Lit, and elsewhere. Their poetry has appeared in Hooligan Mag and Giving Room Mag. Her short story “Mirror Image” published in So To Speak, as well as her essay “Two Truths and a Lie” published in Identity Theory, were both nominated for a Pushcart Prize.