Early Bird Tickets on Sale Now for Open Secrets Live on May 3, 2025 in New York City
Hear Jane Pratt and over two dozen essayists, memoir authors, storytellers, and magazine and book editors discuss their approach to first person writing and the power of personal narratives
Exciting news: Early bird tickets for our first in-person event, personal storytelling summit Open Secrets Live, to be held in New York City (Upper East Side), are on sale now on Eventbrite! These $25 tickets are available through January 31, 2025 or until they sell out. The price will increase to $35 on February 1. See the Eventbrite link for the planned schedule and speaker lineup, which are subject to change.
As an Open Secrets subscriber, you’re the first to be notified that tickets are available. We are only releasing 120 tickets at this time and expect them to sell out quickly so if you plan to attend, please purchase your tickets now.
More info about Open Secrets Live:
Join us for our first in-person event, Open Secrets Live, on Saturday, May 3, 2025 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m on New York’s Upper East Side (76th and York). Hosted by Open Secrets Magazine editor Rachel Kramer Bussel, this 1-day personal storytelling event will feature contributors to Open Secrets Magazine along with essayists, memoir authors, and storytellers from various fields sharing their life stories and the power of baring their souls to the public. Topics will include relationships, family, identity, LGBTQIA life, mental health, and work.
There will also be an editors panel where editors from publications including Narratively and Another Jane Pratt Thing and others, along with an editors from HarperCollins and Random House, reveal what types of essays and manuscripts they’re looking for. This panel will be geared toward essay writers and there will be time for Q&A.
Light refreshments will be served. The event will be held in an ADA compliant space.
Attendees will receive a credit for a free audiobook from sponsor Libro.fm.
Confirmed speakers include (* = Open Secrets Magazine contributor):
Rachel Kramer Bussel, editor and founder, Open Secrets Magazine *
, author of memoir in essays And You May Find Yourself...: Confessions of a Late-Blooming Gen-X Weirdo, editor of , , and
Lester Fabian Brathwaite, author of memoir Rage: On Being Queer, Black, Brilliant…and Completely Over It
Andrea King Collier, journalist, author, and storyteller
, deputy editor,
Katina Corrao, comedian, actress, and author *
Ella Dawson, sex and culture critic, author of But How Are You, Really
John DeVore, author of memoir Theatre Kids: A True Tale of Off-Off Broadway * (Substack: )
Veena Dinavahi, author of memoir The True Happiness Company: How a Girl Like Me Falls for a Cult Like That
Dirty Lola, sex edutainor
Kelli Dunham, writer and comedian *
Kari Ferrell, author of memoir You'll Never Believe Me: A Life of Lies, Second Tries, and Things I Should Only Tell My Therapist (Substack: )
Michele Filgate, editor of anthologies What My Father and Don’t Talk About and What My Mother and I Don’t Talk About
Dionne Ford, author of memoir Go Back and Get It: A Memoir of Race, Inheritance, and Intergenerational Healing
Ellen Friedrichs, author of Good Sexual Citizenship *
Edgar Gomez, author of memoirs High-Risk Homosexual and Alligator Tears
Nikkya Hargrove, author of Mama: A Queer Black Woman’s Story of a Family Lost and Found
Rob Hart, author of Assassins Anonymous *
, entrepreneur and sexual health educator
Aymann Ismail, Slate staff writer and author of memoir Becoming Baba: Fatherhood, Faith, and Finding Meaning in America
, essayist, critic, LitHub columnist, and author of essay collection I Want to Burn This Place Down
Janine Kwoh, author of Welcome to the Grief Club and founder of stationery brand Kwohtations
Emily McCombs, deputy editor, HuffPost Personal
Judy McGuire, author of How Not to Date
Debbie Millman, author of Love Letter to a Garden and host of the Design Matters podcast
Gabrielle Alexa Noel, content creator and author of How to Live With the Internet and Not Let It Run Your Life
Tracy O’Neill, author of memoir Woman of Interest
Jane Pratt, editor,
Arianna Rebolini, author of memoir Better: A Memoir About Wanting to Die
Rakesh Satyal, executive editor, HarperCollins, and author of novel No One Can Pronounce My Name
Alex Segura, author of Alter Ego *
Linda Simpson, nightlife promoter, game show host, and author of PAGES and The Drag Explosion
Hyeseung Song, author of memoir Docile: Memoirs of a Not-So-Perfect Asian Girl
, Executive Editor,
, comedian and writer
Guinevere Turner, author of memoir When the World Didn’t End *
Jamia Wilson, vice president/executive editor, Random House, author of Make Good Trouble: Discover Movements That Sparked Change
Molly Roden Winter, author of More: A Memoir of Open Marriage
Carmen Rita Wong, author of memoir Why Didn’t You Tell Me?
, author of newsletter and memoir Boyslut
Sponsored by Narratively and Libro.fm.
Kew & Willow Books will be our onsite bookseller. You can also buy copies of our Open Secrets Live speakers’ books from their online store.
Are you a journalist who wants to cover Open Secrets Live or work for a company that wants to sponsor it or have general questions? Email opensecretsmag at gmail dot com
Note: Tickets to Open Secrets Live will ONLY be available for sale on Eventbrite. All ticket sales are final. Open Secrets Magazine is not responsible for scammers so do not buy tickets from anywhere except Eventbrite. There are currently 73 tickets left: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/open-secrets-live-a-personal-storytelling-summit-tickets-1140713949129
Will the event be recorded for those living far from NYC? (I am in Hawaii, for example.)