Our audio series "The Authors Read. We Listen." was originally hatched in a NYC club during BEA back in 2012. It's a fun little series, where authors record themselves reading an excerpt from their own novels, in their own voices, the way their stories were meant to be heard.
Today, Aggeliki Pelekidis is joining us and reading an excerpt from her novel Unlucky Mel. Aggeliki was born in Brooklyn
and was a public relations executive in NYC for a decade. She earned her MA and
Ph.D in English with a creative writing emphasis from Binghamton University.
Her dissertation, a short-story collection titled Patrimonium, won the
Distinguished Dissertation Award in Creative Writing. Her work has appeared in The
Michigan Quarterly Review, North Dakota Quarterly, McSweeney’s Internet
Tendency, Confrontation, The Masters Review, and many other
journals. Her short story, “Blah, Blah, Black Sheep” was selected by Ann
Beattie as the winner of a New Ohio Review fiction contest. Her debut
novel, Unlucky Mel, was recently published by Cornell University Press’
Three Hills Imprint.
https://www.cornellpress.cornell.edu/book/9781501776304/unlucky-mel/
"A potent story about pinning your
hopes in the wrong place and learning to trust yourself, Unlucky Mel
will resonate with anyone who has spent any time in academia! Aggeliki
Pelekidis deftly illustrates Mel's learning curve and its endpoint, in a
stronger and more self-realized place."
- Audrey Burges, author of A House Like
an Accordion
"Unlucky Mel is a timely and riveting examination of sexism,
classism, caregiving, emotional labor, and imposter syndrome. With deft
characterization, dry wit, and biting commentary, Pelekidis will take you on
Mel's journey through the treacherous waters of academia and Gen X womanhood to
ultimately find herself."
- Wendy Chin-Tanner, author of King of the Armadillos
"A
delicious send-up of academia and the creative writing world, Unlucky Mel will
make you laugh even as it illustrates serious points about the ways our failing
systems -- not just in universities but in the United States more broadly --
hinder ambitious women."
-
Kate Doyle, author of I Meant it Once
"This witty exploration
of one woman's expected labor will have you rooting at once for justice and
vengeance. Mel's battle is one of competing needs -- hers versus those of the
men in her life. How refreshing to witness a female character finally
prioritize her own ambition."
-
Lika Nikolidakis, author of No One Crosses the Wolf
"Unlucky Mel is a fantastic debut and a gripping and
hilarious novel that is all too familiar for those who have spent time in
graduate writing programs.”
- Raul Palma, author of A Haunting in Hialeah Gardens
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