In-Store: Lauren Morrow: Little Movements w/ Rob Franklin

Tue Sep 09 2025 at 07:00 pm to 08:00 pm UTC-04:00

Books Are Magic Montague | Brooklyn

Books Are Magic
Publisher/HostBooks Are Magic
In-Store: Lauren Morrow: Little Movements w\/ Rob Franklin
Advertisement
“A pitch-perfect satire for our socio-political moment.” —Dawnie Walton, author of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev
About this Event

Event guidelines:

  • Each ticket will include either a copy of the featured book or a $10 Books Are Magic gift card.
  • Additional copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.
  • A signing will follow the talk.
  • Home address is collected for contact tracing purposes; it will not be used otherwise.
  • The event will also be livestreamed for free here: https://youtube.com/live/0IZ6UhoBZKE
  • As a reminder: If you are not feeling well, please do not come to the event, even if you have a ticket; email us and we'll work it out.

If you have any questions regarding these guidelines or to request accessibility accommodations, please contact [email protected].


A sparkling debut novel about a woman who must figure out whether being creatively fulfilled is compatible with being happily married, and what it means to be a Black artist in one of the whitest parts of America.

Thirty-something Layla Smart was raised by her mother to dream medium. But all Layla’s ever wanted was a career in dance, which requires dreaming big. So when she receives an offer to be the choreographer-in-residence at Briar House in rural Vermont, she temporarily leaves behind Brooklyn, her job, her friends, and her husband to pursue it.

Layla has nine months to navigate a complex institution and teach a career-defining dance to a group of Black dancers in a very small, very white town. She has help from a handsome composer, a neurotic costume designer, a witty communications director, and the austere program director who can only compare Layla to Black choreographers. It's an enormous feat, and that’s before Layla’s marriage buckles under the strain of distance, before Briar House’s problematic past comes to light, and before Layla finds out she's pregnant.

Little Movements is a poignant and insightful story that explores issues of race, class, art, and ambition. It is a novel about self-discovery, the pressures placed on certain bodies, and never giving up on your dream.


Lauren Morrow studied dance and creative writing at Connecticut College and earned an MFA in fiction from the Helen Zell Writers' Program. She was a Kimbilio Fellow and an Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellow and is the recipient of two Hopwood Awards, among other prizes. Her writing has appeared in Ploughshares and the South Carolina Review. She worked in publicity at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and is now a senior publicist at Dutton, Plume, and Tiny Reparations Books. Originally from St. Louis, she lives in Brooklyn.


Born and raised in Atlanta, Rob Franklin is a writer of fiction and poetry, and a cofounder of Art for Black Lives. A Kimbilio Fiction Fellow and finalist for the New England Review Emerging Writer Award, he has published work in New England Review, Prairie Schooner, and The Rumpus among others. Franklin lives in Brooklyn, New York, and teaches writing at the School of Visual Arts. Great Black Hope is his first novel.

Advertisement

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Books Are Magic Montague, 122 Montague Street, Brooklyn, United States

Tickets

USD 10.89 to USD 30.49

Sharing is Caring:

More Events in Brooklyn

Belakor at The Brooklyn Monarch
Mon, 08 Sep at 08:00 pm Belakor at The Brooklyn Monarch

The Brooklyn Monarch

Finn Wolfhard at Music Hall of Williamsburg
Mon, 08 Sep Finn Wolfhard at Music Hall of Williamsburg

Music Hall of Williamsburg

Rhe \/ DARLIN' \/ Juliette Ingram
Mon, 08 Sep at 08:30 pm Rhe / DARLIN' / Juliette Ingram

Pete's Candy Store

Back-to-School Bites: DIY Crispbread Snacks (Ages 2-6)
Tue, 09 Sep at 03:30 pm Back-to-School Bites: DIY Crispbread Snacks (Ages 2-6)

House of Wonder

Pre Game Mix + Mingle
Tue, 09 Sep at 04:30 pm Pre Game Mix + Mingle

Black Forest Brooklyn - Fort Greene

Stephen Vittoria launches "Christina and the Whitefish," w\/ Steve Romagnoli
Tue, 09 Sep at 06:30 pm Stephen Vittoria launches "Christina and the Whitefish," w/ Steve Romagnoli

Lofty Pigeon Books, Church Avenue, Brooklyn, NY, USA

Book Event: Zosia Mamet
Tue, 09 Sep at 07:30 pm Book Event: Zosia Mamet

Greenlight Bookstore in Fort Greene

Butcher Class: Pork Party
Tue, 09 Sep at 07:45 pm Butcher Class: Pork Party

Prospect Butcher Co. 2

UB40 at Kings Theatre Brooklyn
Tue, 09 Sep at 08:00 pm UB40 at Kings Theatre Brooklyn

Kings Theatre Brooklyn

Hunx and His Punx at Warsaw
Tue, 09 Sep Hunx and His Punx at Warsaw

Warsaw

SE SO NEON in Brooklyn
Tue, 09 Sep at 08:00 pm SE SO NEON in Brooklyn

Brooklyn Steel

Parking Washington Mystics at New York Liberty
Tue, 09 Sep at 11:00 pm Parking Washington Mystics at New York Liberty

Barclays Center

Brooklyn is Happening!

Never miss your favorite happenings again!

Explore Brooklyn Events