Afternoon Reading with Carvell Wallace

Part of the Creative Writing Visiting Writers Series

You're invited to join Saint Mary's Creative Writing Department for a nonfiction reading and conversation with writer Carvell Wallace happening on Wednesday, April 8th, 2026 from 2:30-3:30 pm in Hagerty Lounge on the Saint Mary’s College campus.

Wallace's debut memoir, Another Word For Love, was a Kirkus Finalist in Nonfiction and a winner of the PEN Oakland prize. Carvell Wallace has written for Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Esquire, and the New Yorker.

Kiese Laymon called Another Word for Love “one of the most soulfully crafted memoirs I’ve ever read.” This memoir excavates layers of Wallace’s own history—making sense of seeking refuge from homelessness, living in a ghostly white Pennsylvania town, becoming a partner and parent, raising two teenagers in what feels like a collapsing world. In speaking to NPR, Wallace said, the memoir was about “what it means to become whole again. This is about living and hope and fullness and the regaining of self. This is about courage." 

Visiting Writer events at Saint Mary's are free, open to the public, and ADA Accessible. Visitor parking is available on campus and light refreshments will be served. All attendees are eligible for a fee waiver for the MFA in Creative Writing application—please reach out to Collin Skeen, Assistant Director of Admissions, at cas38@stmarys-ca.edu for more information.