'Sounds Like Titanic: A Memoir,' by Alumna Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman '09 Out in Feb

Nonfiction creative writing alumna, Jessica Chiccehitto Hindman '09 has her first book, Sounds Like Titanic: A Memoir, coming out February 12 through W.W. Norton.

Sounds Like Titanic tells the true story of Hindman’s experience with a professional ensemble in New York City, and the unexpected journey that follows. When Hindman, an aspiring violinist from Appalachia, lands a job with a professional ensemble in New York, she imagines she has achieved her lifelong dream. But the ensemble proves to be a sham. When the ensemble “performs,” the microphones are never on. Instead, music blares from a CD. The mastermind behind this scheme is a peculiar and mysterious figure known as The Composer, who plays his audiences music that sounds suspiciously like the Titanic movie soundtrack. On tour with his chaotic ensemble, Hindman spirals into crises of identity and disillusionment as she “plays” for audiences genuinely moved by the performance, unable to differentiate real from fake.

As part of Hindman's book tour she will be doing a reading and book signing at Greenlight Bookstore in Brooklyn on Wednesday, February 20th from 7:30-9pm. The moderator for the evening will be fellow School of the Arts alumna, Michelle Legro '11. 

Hindman's recent writing has appeared in McSweeney's, The New York Times Magazine, Brevity and Hippocampus. She teaches creative writing at Northern Kentucky University, where she recently won the Outstanding Junior Faculty Award. In her spare time, she enjoys cooking (Italian), dancing (Beyoncé), and dreaming up clever Halloween costumes (Large Hadron Particle Collider).