Featured Events in Frankford in June 2025 (July Updated)

We’re delighted to welcome Arianna Rebolini to H&H Books to celebrate the release of her debut memoir, BETTER: A MEMOIR ABOUT WANTING TO DIE, on Tuesday, June 10 at 7 PM. Philly-based author Emma Copley Eisenberg (HOUSEMATES) will be Arianna’s conversation partner. You can learn more about the authors and their work on H&H's website. Copies of BETTER and HOUSEMATES are available in-store at H&H Books and on our ecommerce site, and they'll be available the evening of the event, too. Read more about BETTER below. About the book: After a decade of therapy and a stint in a psychiatric ward to treat suicidal depression, Arianna Rebolini was better. She'd published her first book, enjoyed an influential, rewarding publishing job, and celebrated both a marriage and the birth of her first child--but none of it was enough to keep the desire to die at bay. One night, grappling with overwhelming debt and a prolonged depression, she composed goodbye letters to her husband and son while they slept just feet away. In BETTER: A MEMOIR ABOUT WANTING TO DIE, Arianna Rebolini interweaves the story of her month-long period of crisis with decades of personal and family history, from her first cry for help in the fourth grade with a plastic knife, to her fears of passing down the dark seed of suicide to her own son, and her brother’s own life-threatening affliction. To make sense of this dark desire, Arianna pored over the journals, memoirs, and writings of famous suicides, and eventually developed theories on what makes a person suicidal. Her curiosity was driven by the morbid, impossible need to understand what happens in the fatal moment between wanting to kill oneself and doing it—or, unthinkably, the moment between regretting the action and realizing it can’t be undone. When her own brother became institutionalized, Arianna realized that all of the patterns and trenchant insights could not crack the shell of his annihilating depression—and that the only way to help a person live is to address the societal factors that make them want to die. Brutally candid and ... also a strangely and beautifully optimistic reverie on coming clean about our darkest and most intimate struggles while slowly coming to terms with the idea that we might possibly be worthy of love, help, and...life. - Hannah Pittard, author of WE ARE TOO MANY There are readers for whom this may become the most important book they ever read. - Chloé Cooper Jones, author of EASY BEAUTY Questions? Email events@theheadandthehand.com with any questions and follow us @theheadandthehand on Instagram. Information Source: The Head & The Hand | eventbrite

We get it: it can be daunting to dip your toes into poetry. You may not be sure where to start. That’s why H&H Books started a new book club: Poetry is for Everyone. Our next meeting is Sunday, June 22 at 2 PM at Valerio Coffee Roasters (2329 Frankford Avenue). We’ll discuss Winter of Worship by Kayleb Rae Candrilli—and Kayleb themself will join us for our discussion! H&H staffer Kristen will ask questions & facilitate discussion, and participants will share their thoughts and impressions of the month’s selection. There’ll be a brief writing exercise, too, so bring a pen and pencil and paper. Attendance is free, but registration on Eventbrite is recommended. Copies of Winter of Worship will be available at H&H Books (2230 Frankford Avenue). Stop by and pick one up, or pay for your copy in advance on Eventbrite—we’ll email you once it’s in stock. Participants are highly encouraged to read the book before the meeting in order to participate fully. Need further enticement? Book club attendees will receive 10% off drinks at Valerio during our meeting! Questions? DM @theheadandthehand or @booksby_kb, or email events@theheadandthehand.com. Information Source: The Head & The Hand | eventbrite

H&H Books is thrilled to welcome Marisa (Mac) Crane to celebrate their new sophomore novel, A Sharp Endless Need. They'll be in conversation with Philly-based poet Kayleb Rae Candrilli. An audience Q&A and book signing will follow their reading and discussion. About the Book: Star point guard Mack Morris’s senior year of high school begins with twin cataclysms: the death of her father and the arrival of transfer student Liv Cooper. On the court, Mack and Liv discover an exhilarating, game-winning chemistry; off the court, they fall into an equally intoxicating more-than-friendship that is out of bounds for their small Pennsylvania town in 2004, and especially, for Liv’s conservative mother. As Mack’s desire and grief collide with drugs, sex, and the looming college signing deadline, she is forced to reckon with the disconnects between her past and her future—and fight for the life she wants for herself, whether or not Liv will be on the court beside her. Written with the lush longing of Andre Aciman’s Call Me By Your Name and the obsessive attention of Jean Kyoung Frazier’s Pizza Girl, and with all the romance and feeling of the celebrated 2000 movie Love & Basketball, Crane’s sophomore novel is a voice-driven, literary treatment of the big feelings of first love, intimacy, heartbreak, grief, and, of course, sports. Learn more about the authors and their work on H&H's website. A Sharp Endless Need (Dial Press) and Candrilli's poetry collection Winter of Worship (Copper Canyon Press) are available in-store at H&H Books and on our ecommerce site. Email events@theheadandthehand.com with any questions and follow us @theheadandthehand on Instagram. Information Source: The Head & The Hand | eventbrite