Elizabeth Benedict on Books, Money, Hair, Mothers, Gifts & What Not

What My Mother Gave Me is #16 on the May 26th New York Times Bestseller List  (nonfiction paperback)!! Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible - most especially my 30 co-authors. For those who couldn't come to any of our events, our evening at the New York Society Library on May 7th is here on video , with contributors Margo Jefferson, Martha McPhee , and Roxana Robinson . It was a full house, and we learned during the Q/A that contributor Jean Korelitz's mother was in attendance, as was our favorite cultural concierge,  Head Butler, Jesse Kornbluth , who recommended the anthology for Mother's Day - and beyond. Thanks one and all!

Listen in here on our conversation with NPR's Michel Martin, who hosts a show every weekday called Tell Me More. I was with anthology contributor Cecilia Muñoz, a longtime Latina activist and MacArthur fellow.

I have been so moved by so many responses to What My Mother Gave Me , from radio broadcasters to this email from the director of a senior center in Connecticut:  "This morning over coffee, I was sitting with a few members talking about your book, What My Mother Gave Me , and the reactions were priceless. The conversation was difficult for some, joyful for others and appreciated by all. Especially for our older seniors, talking about their own  mothers is now a  relative rarity.  Our book discussion group has added the collection to their list for this summer." Wednesday, May 8, contributor Cecilia Muñoz and I talk to NPR's Michel Martin, on her show "Tell Me More," during the last third of the hour. Please check here to find out what time the show airs on your local NPR station.  Among the many new reviews are this one from Ladies Home Journal , which recommends giving a box of tissues with the book. And these words from FIRST for Women, May 20th

It's been a wonderful week for What My Mother Gave Me. Our event, with contributors Mameve Medwed and Charlotte Silver, at Porter Square Books in Cambridge, was great fun, and family and friends - and maybe even a few people we didn't know - came out in abundance. Thanks to the bookstore and to Mameve and Charlotte. AARP's on-line magazine gave us a rave review, by Bethanne Patrick, and so did Jesse Kornbluth, journalist extraordinaire and cultural concierge, at www.HeadButler.com. From Bethanne Patrick at AARP :  "What My Mother Gave Me: Thirty-One Women on the Gift That Mattered Most , edited by novelist Elizabeth Benedict, features fond-but-wise recollections by some high-candlepower daughters: Joyce Carol Oates, Roxana Robinson, Marge Piercy, Rita Dove — you get the picture. These essays are not fluff pieces. (Not a chocolate box or silk scarf in sight, I’m happy to report.) Instead they’re deeply considered, deeply felt writings on identity and relation