When writer Melissa Faliveno went to fill out her tax forms one year, she paused at the marital status checkboxes. She wasn’t married, but as someone in a long-term partnership, it didn’t feel quite right to choose “Single.”

More and more young adults find themselves occupying this liminal space between singlehood and marriage—and many are charting different paths for themselves and their relationships.

For today’s show, Melissa Faliveno joins guest host Jade Iseri-Ramos to dig into this topic through the lens of her essay published in the new feminist anthology Sex and the Single Woman: 24 Writers Reimagine Helen Gurley Brown’s Cult Classic.

Melissa Faliveno will read from Sex and the Single Woman and chat about 21st-century singlehood with poet K. Iver at A Room of One’s Own bookstore this Friday, August 12 at 6PM. More information about the event available here.

Melissa Faliveno is a visiting professor of English at Kenyon College and author of the essay collection Tomboyland (Topple Books, 2020). Her essays and interviews have been featured in numerous outlets including Esquire, Paris Review, and Lit Hub.

Cover photo by Justin Luebke on Unsplash

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