Monday, March 2, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Skylight Books, Los Angeles
 CLICK HERE TO RSVP _**RSVP is recommended but not required. Entry and seating are first-come, first-served. RSVPs do not guarantee entry to a full event.**_ **Darcey Steinke, acclaimed author of _Flash Count Diary_ and _Suicide Blonde,_ explores the world of pain for those who suffer and those who love them.** Steinke gets to the heart of pain with her usual brilliance, humor, candor, and empathy. In chapters that trace the body—The Spine, The Heart, The Knees, and more—she introduces sufferers to new and ancient understandings of pain through history, philosophy, religion, pop culture, and reported human experience. Leaving no stone unturned, Steinke takes readers under the knife, through the archives, and across oceans. She interviews working physicians, analyzes the writings of Frida Kahlo, recounts her own back surgery, and journeys to Lourdes, where she finds herself invited to participate in the famed pilgrimage site's rituals. For readers of Joan Didion, C. S. Lewis, Sheila Heti, and Leslie Jamison, _This Is the Door_ beautifully illuminates the experience of pain and its myriad effects on the body, mind, and soul. Whether you are hurting or know someone who is, whether your pain is somatic or spiritual, _This Is the Door_ is a revelation. **Darcey Steinke** is the author of multiple nonfiction and novels, including her most recent memoir, _Flash Count Diary._ Her work has been translated into ten languages, and her nonfiction has appeared in the _New York Times, The Paris Review, Granta,_ among many others. She has taught at Columbia University School of the Arts, New York University, Princeton University, and the American University of Paris. She lives with her husband in Brooklyn, New York. **Maggie Nelson** is the author of over a dozen acclaimed books, most recently The Slicks (2025) and Pathemata, Or, The Story of My Mouth (2025). Previous works include Like Love: Essays and Conversations (2024); the national bestseller On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint (2021); the international bestseller The Argonauts (2015; winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award); The Art of Cruelty: A Reckoning (2011); Bluets (2009; adapted for the stage at the Royal Court Theatre of London); and The Red Parts: Autobiography of a Trial (2005). A recipient of a 2016 MacArthur “genius” fellowship, she is currently a Distinguished Professor of English at the University of Southern California.