Introducing the Desk Salon Series

Launching with Anna Sulan Masing, Mayukh Sen, Carina del Valle Schorske, and Layla Schlack.

In 2025, I’m going to be leaning more into cultivating the conversations I want to see in the world. Between workshops and our weekly Salon chats, I’ve been really enjoying getting to know more of this international, extremely well-read, very politically engaged community—and am even becoming comfortable referring to it as such.

To that ends, I’m launching the Desk Salon Series.

My choice of the word “salon” is intentionally, a bit sardonically grandiose—dictionary definition is “a meeting of intellectuals or other eminent people at the invitation of a celebrity or socialite”—but also meant to give a sense of occasion to the affair. In addition to our weekly paid subscriber salons in chat, these will be opportunities to have conversations about food, politics, culture, and literature for which the world doesn’t always easily provide space.

These will be virtual in order to transverse geographical and access boundaries, and they will consist of a 20- to 30-minute guided conversation, and then the space will open for a Q&A. The conversation will be recorded and transcribed for paid subscribers, who can also obtain free access by signing up with the code in their email header (or reply). Otherwise, a ticket is $10.

We will start on January 12 with Anna Sulan Masing, who will be discussing her forthcoming book Chinese and Any Other Asian. Mayukh Sen, on February 9, will talk about his own new book, Love, Queenie: Merle Oberon, Hollywood's First South Asian Star. On March 9, Carina del Valle Schorske—a New York Times Magazine contributing writer and National Magazine Award winner—will join us. Layla Schlack, senior editor at Clarkson Potter, will be the focus on April 6, to discuss her transition from food media into book publishing. Signups are live for each.