July 9, 2025
The Center for Fiction welcomed the acclaimed Ursa podcasts, Short Fiction and Reckon True Stories, with hosts Deesha Philyaw (The Secret Lives of Church Ladies), Dawnie Walton (The Final Revival of Opal & Nev), and Kiese Laymon (City Summer, Country Summer). They were joined onstage by debut authors Lawrence Burney (No Sense in Wishing) and Carrie R. Moore (Make Your Way Home).
Featured Books
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No Sense in Wishing
By Lawrence Burney
Published by Atria Books
There are moments throughout our lives when we discover an artist, an album, a film, or a cultural artifact that leaves a lasting impression, helping inform how we understand the world, and ourselves, moving forward. In No Sense in Wishing, Lawrence Burney explores these profound interactions with incisive and energizing prose, offering us a personal and critical perspective on the people, places, music, and art that transformed him.
In a time when music is spearheading Black Americans’ connection with Africans on The Continent, Burney takes trips to cover the bubbling creative scenes in Lagos and Johannesburg that inspire teary-eyed reflections of self and belonging. Seeing his mother perform as the opening act at a Gil Scott-Heron show as a child inspires an essay about parent-child relationships and how personal taste is often inherited. And a Maryland crab feast with family facilitates an assessment of how the Black people in his home state have historically improvised paths for their liberation.
Taking us on a journey from the streets of Baltimore to the concert halls of Lagos, No Sense in Wishing is a kaleidoscopic exploration of Burney’s search for self. With its gutsy and uncompromising criticism alongside intimate personal storytelling, it’s like an album that hits all the right notes, from a promising writer on the rise.
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Make Your Way Home
By Carrie R. Moore
Published by Tin House Books
In eleven stories that span Florida marshes, North Carolina mountains, and Southern metropolitan cities, Make Your Way Home follows Black men and women who grapple with the homes that have eluded them. A preteen pregnant alongside her mother refuses to let convention dictate who she names as the father of her child. Centuries after slavery separated his ancestors, a native Texan tries to win over the love of his life, despite the grip of a family curse. A young deaconess, who falls for a new church member, wonders what it means when God stops speaking to her. And at the very end of the South as we know it, two sisters seek to escape North to freedom, to promises of a more stable climate.
Artfully and precisely drawn, and steeped in place and history as it explores themes of belonging, inheritance, and deep intimacy, Carrie R. Moore’s debut collection announces an extraordinary new talent in American fiction, inviting us all to examine how the past shapes our present—and how our present choices will echo for years to come.
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Featuring
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Lawrence Burney
Lawrence Burney
Lawrence Burney is a writer, critic, and founder of True Laurels, an independent magazine covering Baltimore’s music and culture scene. His work has appeared in publications such as New York magazine, GQ, and Pitchfork. He has also worked at the Fader, VICE, and the Baltimore Banner. No Sense in Wishing is his first book.
Photo Credit: Shan Wallace
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Carrie R. Moore
Carrie R. Moore
Carrie R. Moore’s fiction has appeared in One Story, New England Review, the Sewanee Review, Virginia Quarterly Review, and other publications. A recipient of the Keene Prize and the inaugural writer-in-residence at the Steinbeck Writers’ Retreat, she earned her MFA at the Michener Center for Writers. Born in Georgia, she currently resides in Texas with her husband.
Photo Credit: Matt Valentine
