Join us for a conversation with former member of our Manuscript Intensive, Elena Azzoni, to celebrate the release of her debut novel, Tizzy.

A brief reception will following the conversation and reading.

About the author:

Elena Azzoni is an Italian-American writer whose work explores identity, desire, and the long road back to the body. 

She is the author of A Year Straight (Seal Press, Hachette, 2011), and her work has appeared in The Huffington Post, Elle, make/shift magazine, The Stephanie Miller Show, and feminist anthology, We Don't Need Another Wave (Seal Press, Hachette, 2006). Elena holds an MFA in Creative Inquiry from New College of California, where she studied under renowned activist poet, Judy Grahn. She also holds a BA in Women’s Studies and Social Thought & Political Economy from UMass, Amherst, and is currently pursuing an MA in Clinical Mental Health Counseling. Elena lives with her family in Brooklyn, NY.

Her debut novel, Tizzy, will be released in March 2026 by RISE BOOKS (Simon & Schuster).

About the book: Tizzy’s trying to keep her cool. It’s the 90s. She’s nineteen, fueled by caffeine, riot grrrl, and repression. She’s got a boyfriend, a job at the hip campus co-op, and a roommate who burns sage in the bathroom. But when her body starts to short-circuit, memories she’s spent years keeping at bay surge to the surface. To top it off, Tizzy finds herself drawn to TJ, her boyfriend’s best friend — all swagger, sarcasm, and unexpected tenderness in her leather jacket and combat boots. With her nervous system lighting up in ways she can no longer ignore, Tizzy begins to realize she must face what she’s been running from. Tizzy is a fever dream of denial and desire, a coming-of-age novel in which the key to healing is feeling everything.