The Writer’s Center welcomes author, and Executive Director of The Writer’s Center, Zach Powers, to our monthly Fiction Book Club for a discussion of his most recent novel collection, The Migraine Diaries, at The Writer’s Center! Zach is joined by Book Club Host, Hannah Grieco.
We encourage you to order a copy of the book from your local, independent bookseller or online »
FREE & open to the public. RSVP below.
Zach Powers is a native of Savannah, Georgia, and lives and writes in Arlington, Virginia. He will publish his next novel, The Migraine Diaries, in April 2026 with JackLeg Press. His novel First Cosmic Velocity was published in 2019 by Putnam, and his debut story collection Gravity Changes won the BOA Short Fiction Prize and was published in 2017 by Boa Editions. His prose and poetry have been featured by American Short Fiction, Black Warrior Review, The Brooklyn Rail, and elsewhere. He co-founded the literary arts nonprofit Seersucker Live. He led the writers’ workshop at the Flannery O’Connor Childhood Home for eight years. He was an arts and culture columnist for Savannah Morning News. He serves as Executive & Artistic Director for The Writer’s Center and Poet Lore, America’s oldest poetry journal. He once won a regional Emmy for writing a public service announcement.
About The Migraine Diaries
With lyrical prose and a deeply empathetic voice, The Migraine Diaries offers a raw, unflinching look at the impact of chronic illness on the human spirit.
When a 30-something man experiences his first migraine at the funeral for his best friend, his life within a close-knit friend group threatens to come undone. He must navigate despair and debilitation alongside relationships, work, and the quest for meaning. He struggles to find sparks of hope and beauty even as his body and mind rebel against him.
How does he live with endless, invisible hurt? How does he support his friends even as he loses the ability to support himself? His very experience of time alters—looping, regressing, and flashing back to a before that’s lost forever. The Migraine Diaries, told in the unique format of a diagnostic headache journal, is a visionary look at human endurance, as well as a poignant exploration of pain. Most of all, it’s a testament to the power of friendship in the face of strife and grief.
About Book Club
This is no run-of-the-mill book club. Visiting writers will read excerpts, join the discussion, and answer your questions about craft, process, the publishing industry, and getting advice for our own writing! We’ll hang and eat snacks with the authors and escape your doomscrolling.
Poetry Book Club will meet on Zoom every second Wednesday of the month with a new poet.
Fiction Book Club will meet every third Sunday of the month in person at The Writer’s Center with a new author.
Come build community and read amazing books that the Big 5 didn’t have the sense to publish!
If you need an accommodation for this event, please contact us at access@writer.org. We will attempt to fulfill all requests, but advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility services.
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