Dear Dealer Book Launch & Discussion with Local Author Nadia Bowers

Join us for a book launch and moderated discussion with local author Nadia Bowers for her upcoming memoir, Dear Dealer.

In the summer of 2015, Nadia Bowers’s beloved older sister, Sasha—a social worker and Ivy League grad—was found in her car in a restaurant parking lot in their hometown outside New Haven, CT, dead from a fentanyl overdose. In Dear Dealer, Bowers recounts how, plunged into grief, equipped with Sasha’s phone, and just weeks from giving birth to her first child, she began to investigate her sister’s shadow life: who sold Sasha the drugs that killed her? Did they know each other well? Did the dealer have any idea who Sasha was, outside of addiction? One part narrative, one part epistolary, Bowers interrogates her sister, her family, their history, and herself. 

Expanding on her viral 2018 This American Life essay of the same name—a letter to this imagined dealer—Bowers’s memoir is a love letter, a diary, and a quest in search of the dealer’s identity, as well as her own. Who is she without her sister? Who is she because of her sister? And what now? Bowers reflects on her shifting roles as sister and mother, examining how this sudden loss has reshaped her sense of self. Her letters to the faceless dealer are interwoven with rage, reflection, and even moments of humor as she recounts their intertwined lives alongside memories of charismatic and complex Sasha. 

As poetic as it is unflinchingly honest, Dear Dealer is a richly compelling account of one woman’s search for meaning, forgiveness, and hope in the aftermath of tragedy.

About the Author:

Nadia Bowers is an actor, writer, and voice-over artist. She has a BA in sociology and French from Dartmouth College and an MFA in acting from NYU’s Graduate Acting Program. Nadia works in theater, television, and film. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, actor Corey Stoll, and their son.

Registration is required to attend this IN-PERSON event.

Presented by Gallery Books.