Float like a butterfly, sting like bee. Cassius was talking about his boxing method when he said this but here at Tin House, the phrase could be used to describe what we like to read. Stories that display a sweet smile while holding a knife behind their back. Poems that start off with a light touch but end up leaving a bruise.

The work of both of our featured authors on Episode #8 might seem breezy on the surface. Poems about celebrities. An essay on summer camp. But their lightness begets something darker. Something more recognizable and moving than we initially suspected. Like the best of all writing, they leave a mark.

Join us as (here) as Dorianne Laux gives a reading from our Writer’s Workshop & Peyton Marshall performs her essay “The Feast”, which first appeared in our Beauty Issue.