Little Movements - by Lauren Morrow (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Thirty-something Layla Smart was raised by her mother to dream medium. But all Layla's ever wanted was a career in dance, which requires dreaming big. So when she receives an offer to be the choreographer-in-residence at Briar House in rural Vermont, she temporarily leaves behind Brooklyn, her job, her friends, and her husband to pursue it. Layla has nine months to navigate a complex institution and teach a career-defining dance to a group of Black dancers in a very small, very white town. She has help from a handsome composer, a neurotic costume designer, a witty communications director, and the austere program director who can only compare Layla to Black choreographers. It's an enormous feat, and that's before Layla's marriage buckles under the strain of distance, before Briar House's problematic past comes to light, and before Layla finds out she's pregnant. Little Movements is a poignant and insightful story that explores issues of race, class, art, and ambition. It is a novel about self-discovery, the pressures placed on certain bodies, and never giving up on your dream"-- Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

A sparkling debut novel about a woman who must figure out whether being creatively fulfilled is compatible with being happily married, and what it means to be a Black artist in one of the whitest parts of America.

Thirty-something Layla Smart was raised by her mother to dream medium. But all Layla's ever wanted was a career in dance, which requires dreaming big. So when she receives an offer to be the choreographer-in-residence at Briar House in rural Vermont, she temporarily leaves behind Brooklyn, her job, her friends, and her husband to pursue it.

Layla has nine months to navigate a complex institution and teach a career-defining dance to a group of Black dancers in a very small, very white town. She has help from a handsome composer, a neurotic costume designer, a witty communications director, and the austere program director who can only compare Layla to Black choreographers. It's an enormous feat, and that's before Layla's marriage buckles under the strain of distance, before Briar House's problematic past comes to light, and before Layla finds out she's pregnant.

Little Movements is a poignant and insightful story that explores issues of race, class, art, and ambition. It is a novel about self-discovery, the pressures placed on certain bodies, and never giving up on your dream.

Review Quotes

"A sparkling debut, incisive and funny, moving and startlingly real . . . Morrow's voice will linger in your head whenever you aren't reading and beckon you back to Layla, her world, and her troubles and triumphs. This is a novel that is not to be missed."--Naima Coster, author of What's Mine and Yours

"With an ambitious choreographer at its center, Lauren Morrow's debut details the everyday struggle of balancing the personal and professional, while also urging us to take charge of our own narratives, inhabit space as our full selves, and resist the pressures to conform, no matter the cost. If you've ever felt out of sync, this is a necessary reminder that though missteps and stumbles are inevitable, they're only a part of life's wondrous dance. . . . A beautifully wrought tribute to all that inspires us to move."--Mateo Askaripour, New York Times bestselling author of Black Buck

"Little Movements is a triumph--a story of self-discovery and reinvention that's written with energy and distinctness, humor and heart. Lauren Morrow is a writer I'd follow anywhere."--Julie Buntin, author of Marlena

"Constantly surprising and darkly hilarious, Little Movements traces the heartbreaks and triumphs of the Black artist's life, with a sharp eye on what lurks behind an opportunity and how to make the most of it anyway. It's a pitch-perfect satire for our socio-political moment."--Dawnie Walton, author of The Final Revival of Opal & Nev

"Morrow writes of the artistic life with such lived-in intimacy. Best and most bracing of all, though, what makes Little Movements so necessary, is her deeply thoughtful, deeply felt examination--by turns frustrated, furious, and frank--of what it means to be an artist of color amid the constant pressure of representation."--Peter Ho Davies, author of The Fortunes

"Lauren Morrow writes about dance as only a dancer could--energy boundless, words pulsing on the page. In her capable hands, every movement--like a moment, or a friendship, or a city--becomes as expansive and perilous as young love. Little Movements is a book that captures the pitfalls, and the explosive joy, of making art while Black."--Rob Franklin, author of Great Black Hope

About the Author

Lauren Morrow studied dance and creative writing at Connecticut College and earned an MFA in fiction from the Helen Zell Writers' Program. She was a Kimbilio Fellow and an Aspen Words Emerging Writer Fellow and is the recipient of two Hopwood Awards, among other prizes. Her writing has appeared in Ploughshares and the South Carolina Review. She worked in publicity at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music) and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and is now a senior publicist at Dutton, Plume, and Tiny Reparations Books. Originally from St. Louis, she lives in Brooklyn.