From The Banner · Cayla Harris · · 1m 40s
Catonsville native's book blends satire and self-reflection
Maeve Dunigan's new essay collection mixes humor with real life to explore how we perform ourselves online and offline.
In brief
Maeve Dunigan's new essay collection mixes humor with real life to explore how we perform ourselves online and offline. The book shows how we try to seem cool but ultimately are just ourselves. Originally reported by The Banner.
Satire and self-reflection
Maeve Dunigan, a Catonsville native, writes essays about her teenage years and early adulthood.
“I once got so high at a Hozier concert that I convinced myself Hozier was basically an ancient deity who was going to kill me.”
Book title origin
Dunigan chose the title 'Read This to Look Cool' to capture her focus on how we perform ourselves.
College and early writing
Dunigan started writing in high school but found her voice through college sketch comedy.
New York writing scene
She moved to New York to work in admin at NYU and became part of the alt-Brooklyn comedy scene.
New Yorker success
Dunigan published essays in The New Yorker from 2020 to 2024 and got an agent interested in a book.
Perception anxiety
Dunigan writes about how she felt the need to perform herself online and offline during her teens.
Tinder and Glee
She shares stories about her One Direction fanfiction and responding to Tinder messages.
Credit score anxiety
Dunigan writes about the anxiety of calculating credit scores and social media presence.
Grandmother deaths
Dunigan's grandmothers died within four months while she was writing the book.
Book's deeper message
Dunigan hopes readers will smile and realize they can be themselves despite trying to seem cool.
Upcoming novel
Dunigan is writing a novel about a boy band trapped in a hotel with fans who are killing each other.
The headline
The book shows how we try to seem cool but ultimately are just ourselves.
