Monster of a Land with Author Lauren Hough

Join us and As You Are for a discussion with Lauren Hough and Jenn Morson discussing Monster of a Land. 

When: Saturday June 27 at 4PM
Where: As You Are (Upstairs)
500 8th St SE
Washington, DC 20003

Accessibility Note: As You Are's upstairs event space requires ascending a full flight of stairs. 

ABOUT THE BOOK

Lauren Hough has always been haunted by the road trips she never got to no money, no vacation days, no car capable of making the trip. So, upon finally finding herself in a situation where such a trip might be possible—being a writer may not always pay better than being a bartender or a cable guy, but at least the schedule’s flexible—she leaps at the chance, refurbishing a ramshackle 2001 Dodge van and setting off from Austin, Texas with her Husky mix Woody by her side.

Her influences feel obvious—but a lot has changed about the United States since the 1962 trip John Steinbeck chronicles in Travels with Charley. And Lauren Hough isn’t John Steinbeck—unless the Noble Prize-winning author of The Grapes of Wrath had a secret past as a six-foot-tall lesbian and Air Force vet. But even better as a social lubricant than beer, a dog is the ultimate conversation starter. With Woody as wingman, Lauren chats—at gas stations and restaurants and auto shops and bars—with an incredible cross-section of Americans from all walks of life and every possible political perspective. And as she circumnavigates the country, she documents, with all-too-rare empathy, what it means to be poor, to be marginalized, and to be seen as Other in America.

Part travelogue, part social commentary, and 100% Lauren Hough, Monster of a Land unites her poignant vulnerability, her hilarious narrative voice, and her razor-sharp insights into a journey that will show us how far we’ve come as a country, and how far we still have to go.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

LAUREN HOUGH was born in Germany and raised in seven countries, and West Texas. She’s been an Air Force airman, a bartender, a bouncer, a construction laborer, a driver, a green-aproned barista, and a cable guy. She’s the author of the New York Times bestselling essay collection, Leaving Isn’t the Hardest Thing. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Granta, Texas Highways, Huffpost, and The Guardian. She’s a writer at large for Texas Highways. She lives in Austin with a dog named Woody Guthrie.

ABOUT THE CONVERSATION PARTNER

Jenn Morson is a freelance writer with words in The New York Times, The Washington Post, TIME, The Atlantic, and many more national and regional publications. She can be found on her Substack, Believer, and is working her first memoir.