Sally Forth, Sad Girl! (Novel-In-Progress)

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Friday, February 27, 2026 | 6pm to 7:30pm

25 West 43rd Street, Suite 1000
between 5th & 6th Avenues, Manhattan

Prof. Sally Wen Mao will present on Sally Forth, Sad Girl!, a novel-in-progress following a Chinese American poet living in an artist residency in Shanghai. The story explores themes of solitude, diasporic wandering, heartbreak, and art-making as the protagonist connects with fellow artists and seeks adventure. Prof. Mao will read excerpts from the novel-in-progress and present some of the results of the novel research she conducted over the past year, supported by the AAARI research support award.

Project funded by the 2025 CUNY Faculty Research Support Program

Author Bio

Sally Wen Mao is the author of the short story collection Ninetails: Nine Tales (Penguin Books, May 2024). She is also the author of three books of poetry: The Kingdom of Surfaces (Graywolf, 2023), a finalist for the Maya Angelou Book Award, Oculus (Graywolf Press, 2019), a finalist for the 2020 Los Angeles Book Prize in Poetry, and Mad Honey Symposium (Alice James Books, 2014). The recipient of an NEA grant, a Cullman fellowship, a Shearing fellowship, and two Pushcart Prizes, Mao is Assistant Professor of English and Creative Writing at Baruch College/CUNY.