Amanda Hess
✨ New York Times critic-at-large and author of the forthcoming memoir Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age ✨
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"Amanda Hess is that rare thing, the real deal. Second Life is unexpected, intellectually rigorous, funny, beautiful; and the wisdom is hard-won. A major debut from a profoundly talented writer."
Claire Dederer
author of Monsters: A Fan's Dilemma
Advance Praise 😳
"New parents spend countless hours staring at our phones, scrolling for the comfort American systems fail to provide us. But pushed to the brink, only Amanda Hess could step through the blue light looking glass – journey through her specific, and our collective, anxiety, dissociation, data points, targeted ads, and apps – and emerge a more sensate, embodied, and sharper critic. The honesty of Second Life takes my breath away."
Angela Garbes
author of Essential Labor and Like a Mother
"Second Life is a tender, perceptive account of pregnancy and early motherhood—and a stylish confrontation with the demented landscape of digital parenting content. It also happens to be a subtle indictment of a healthcare system that leaves some parents scrolling for alternatives. Hess is a smart, savvy, and generous guide."
Anna Wiener
author of Uncanny Valley
Upcoming Events
Check back soon for information about readings and events in May 2025.
