Dahlia Finger is 29, depressed, whip-smart, honest, resolutely single, and unemployed. She spends her days stoned in front of the TV, watching movies repeatedly, like “a form of prayer” until her so-called life is upended by an aggressive brain tumor. Hear Elisa Albert discuss her writing of this dark, fearlessly funny story of terminal illness, in which she walks the line between gravitas and irreverence and between candor and compassion.

Elisa Albert teaches creative writing at Columbia University and is a contributor to a wide range of journals and magazines. A founding editor of www.Jewcy.com and author of the acclaimed How This Night Is Different, she is currently editing an anthology about sibling relationships called Freud’s Blind Spot.

Recorded Monday, May 18, 2009 at Spertus Institute of Jewish Studies.