Actor and comedian Jenny Slate’s second collection of essays is coming later this year.
Little, Brown will publish Slate’s Lifeform in the fall, the press announced in a news release. It describes the book as “a wild, soulful, hilarious collection of genre-bending essays depicting the journey into motherhood as you’ve never seen it before.”
Slate is known for her work on television series including Saturday Night Live, Parks and Recreation, and Bob’s Burgers, and for her roles in films such as Obvious Child and Everything Everywhere All at Once. She made her literary debut in 2011 with the children’s book Marcel the Shell with Shoes On: Things About Me, co-written with Dean Fleischer Camp and illustrated by Amy Lind; the book was inspired by a short film written by Slate and Fleischer Camp.
In 2019, she published her first essay collection, Little Weirds. A critic for Kirkus wrote of the book, “A uniquely talented writer and performer offers up an unexpectedly uncommon approach to autobiographical writing.”
Her new book, Little, Brown, says, will focus on Slate’s experience having a child during the Covid-19 pandemic, and is told in five phases: “Single, True Love, Pregnancy, Baby, and Ongoing.”
“Completing this new work was a singular pleasure,” Slate said in a statement. “I dove deep and I think I’ve surfaced more alive than ever, and I am so eager to share it all with anyone who is willing and ready. I know I am!”
Lifeform is scheduled for publication on Oct. 22.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
