Mallary Tenore Tarpley w/ Pooja Lakshmin: SLIP Paperback Release

Mallary Tenore Tarpley will be at First Light Books on Tuesday, August 11, for the paperback release of SLIP: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery. The evening starts at 6 PM and runs as a reception, a conversation, and a signing. Tarpley is a journalism professor at the University of Texas at Austin's Moody College of Communication, and SLIP is her account of a childhood struggle with an eating disorder and her present-day reckoning with how elusive full recovery can be. She builds the book around interviews and surveys of hundreds of patients, doctors, and researchers.

Along the way, she coins the term "the middle place" to describe the liminal space between sickness and full recovery—a place where slips are accepted as part of healing rather than as failures. It's a concept that sits at the heart of the book, and one she'll likely spend some time on during the conversation. SLIP was the 2026 recipient of the Association of American Publishers' PROSE Award for Excellence in Biological and Life Sciences.

Tarpley won't be on her own for the talk. She'll be in conversation with Dr. Pooja Lakshmin, the author of the national bestseller Real Self-Care. Lakshmin is a board-certified psychiatrist specializing in women's mental health and a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at George Washington University School of Medicine. Given the subject matter, having a psychiatrist on the other side of the table should bring a helpful clinical perspective to the conversation.

The event is at First Light Books, 4300 Speedway, Austin, TX 78751. Tickets include a copy of the book and a reserved seat, and free RSVPs are encouraged. It kicks off at 6 PM.