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All things are delicately interconnected in these stories set in a small town in eastern North Carolina. From the rambunctious antics of an erstwhile Shad Queen to the guilt-throttled grief of a secret affair gone wrong, Proof of Me and Other Stories stitches together the lives and adventures of each of its characters, in unexpected and peculiar ways, from one story to the next.
Come Celebrate Proof of Me’s Book Launch at AWP!
Philadelphia Center for Architecture and Design, 1218 Arch Street, 5pm
March 24, 2022
Pre-order Proof of Me here
Contact Erica for ARCs or Media Interest
Praise for Proof of Me:
“Written with deep emotional intelligence, these are indelible portraits of people seeking grace in all the wrong places…Lazure’s sensitive portrayal of this specific American locale deserves the attention of readers from all over the map.”
—Jean Chen Ho, The New York Times
Erica Plouffe Lazure is a master of the ways that allow great writers of fiction to transport us beyond the boundaries of our own lives and into the hearts and souls of others: She inhabits her characters profoundly and she sings from there in richly real voices. Proof of Me is proof of Lazure’s literary genius. She is one of my favorite contemporary writers.
—Robert Olen Butler
PROOF OF ME is such a beautifully textured book. Every sentence of Lazure’s prose is stamped with authority and confidence, allowing the people, place, situations, and descriptions a rich and satisfying dimensionality.
—Aimee Bender
If you can imagine Flannery O’Connor watching Wheel of Fortune or hearing a bad version of ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ at karaoke night, that might give you some idea of Erica Plouffe Lazure’s Proof of Me. In these darkly comic linked stories, Lazure shows a meticulous eye for detail, a keen ear for American voices, and an astringent sympathy for men who mow their lawns “bare-chested, pot-belly proud” and women who know “there’s always problems with the mens, long as there been mens.”
—David Gates
Erica Plouffe Lazure 