Author Talk: Jessica Anya Blau, "Shopgirls"

Darien Library and Barrett Bookstore welcome back author Jessica Anya Blau, who will discuss her new book, Shopgirls. Blau's latest novel, revolving around San Francisco's exclusive department store, I. Magnin, is all about finding family, growing up, and living through the best and worst of the 1980s.

Jessica will be in conversation with editor Demetra Ganias.

In the book, nineteen-year-old Zippy is the newest and youngest salesgirl at I. Magnin. Every week, she rotates her three spruced-up Salvation Army outfits and Vaseline-shined pumps, excited to even have the chance to walk those pumps through the employee entrance five days a week as she saves to buy something new. For a girl who grew up in a one-bedroom apartment above a liquor store with her mother and her mother’s madcap boyfriend—a girl who wanted to go to college but had no help in figuring out how—Zippy sees I. Magnin as a real chance for a better and more elegant life. Or, at the very least, a more interesting one.  Just when Zippy thinks she’s getting a handle on how to be an adult woman in 1985, two unexpected, shocking surprises threaten both her sense of self and her coveted position at I. Magnin.

Author Jessica Blau herself worked as the youngest salesgirl on the dress floor at the San Francisco I. Magnin in the late 1980s, alongside experienced saleswomen who did not appreciate her naive enthusiasm (or her big sales). And just like Zippy, Blau started the job owning only one I. Magnin-worthy dress. She determinedly made sales not only to pay the rent and eat, but to buy another dress.

Mark your calendars for this one!

About the Author

Jessica Anya Blau’s novels have been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNN, and NPR, and in Cosmopolitan, Vanity Fair, Bust, Time Out, Oprah Summer Reads, Oprah Daily, and other national publications. Jessica’s books have been translated into many languages and have been optioned for film and television. Her short stories and essays have been published in numerous magazines, journals, and anthologies. Jessica sometimes works as a screenwriter, a ghost writer, and has taught writing at Johns Hopkins University, Goucher College, and The Fashion Institute of Technology. She grew up in southern California and now lives in New York City.

About Demetra Ganias

Demetra Ganias is an editor for The Local Moms Network — a media company that gives moms the gift of time. Local Moms offers resources, profiles of moms, and an engaging community to get moms through the ups and downs of motherhood. Demetra is also a host and public speaking coach.