‘Tango Lessons’ at Readers’ Books in Sonoma

The debut novel has garnered positive reviews.|

On Thursday, July 19, Readers’ Books will present a 7 p.m. reading with author Meghan Flaherty as she presents her debut memoir “Tango Lessons,” which has amassed compliments from publications like New York Journal of Books, Publisher’s Weekly and Booklist.

Of Flaherty’s work, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Margo Jefferson said, “As Virginia Woolf wrote, ‘What a lark! What a plunge!’ Meghan Flaherty has written a wonderful book. Encountering tango she encountered a series of cultures and histories: that of the dance itself; that of its impassioned students, teachers, and acolytes in New York and elsewhere; that of her own very particular desires. Like a first-rate piece of dance, she’s gotten the proportions right: the small details, the sweep of the whole, the use of space, scenery, the group and the solo players.”

According to her website, Flaherty was first introduced to the world of tango at age 16 while studying abroad in Argentina, but it wasn’t until years later, when living in New York City, disheartened and struggling to find possibility in life and love, that she pulled tango toward her in an “open embrace.”

Haunted by an upbringing of emotional torment, with a mother who relentlessly chased men and battled addiction, Flaherty began to find that, with each dance, came greater peace of conscience.

With the support of dance teachers, friend Marty, lover Enzo, and tango dancing, itself, Flaherty ultimately discovered a deeper sense of autonomy, self and womanhood.

Flaherty attended graduate school at Columbia University, where she received a master of fine arts in nonfiction. Flaherty’s translations and essays have been featured in the Iowa Review, the Rumpus and the New Inquiry.

She currently resides in Palo Alto, with her husband, baby and rescue mastiff.

This is Flaherty’s first book and her first time reading in Sonoma.

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