In a short essay that’s both a poetic spill of memories and an artistic manifesto, “Why I Write: Blood, Exile, Longing, Obstinate Memory,” for this month’s Alta’s California Book Club, Jessica Hagedorn writes, “I write to exist: to feel everyone & everything,” and, later on, “…& everyone’s a gangster & everything’s a story / guitar & gun / lost brothers / & black pearls & black tears & blood of a poet.” I’ve been loving these California Book Club meetings, the subtle and terrific interviews with a series of extraordinary writers, mostly in conversation with John Freeman and exciting guests. You can also read a variety of short essays about each month’s book. I was excited to have the chance to write one of these pieces about The Gangster of Love (note, the book club webinar is this Thursday, free and open to everyone…registration info below!). Here’s the beginning of my piece, “‘Only Because It’s Forbidden’: Seduction and loss in Jessica Hagedorn’s The Gangster of Love”