Writing
Tits on the Moon is a collection of 12 stage poems, many of which Dessa performs at her live shows. They’re funny, weird, and a lil bittersweet. The collection opens with a short essay on craft (and the importance of having a spare poem around for when the power goes out). The cover is pressed with gold foil and structurally embossed, designed by Studio on Fire. Published cooperatively by Rain Taxi and Doomtree Records.
Click here to watch Dessa’s reading of “The Body” from Tits on the Moon
My Own Devices: True Stories from the Road on Music, Science, and Senseless Love, is Dessa’s first hardcover collection, published in September 2018 by Dutton Books (Penguin Random House). As compelling on paper as she is on stage, Dessa stitches together poignant insights on loyalty, romance, science, and language–a demonstration of just how far the mind can travel while the body is on a six-hour ride to the next gig. My Own Devices is an uncompromising and candid account of a life in motion, in music, and in love.
Click here to listen to Dessa read an excerpt of My Own Devices
Other works:
On the Line (an audio play by Dessa, directed by Jessica Rose McVay and produced by 45North)
Showstopper: a working musician’s pandemic year (The New York Times Magazine Music Issue)
Remembering Grant Imahara (The New York Times Magazine)
In Corsica, a quest for beautiful harmony (National Geographic Traveler)
On travel and artistic inspiration (National Geographic)
Synesthesia in London (New York Times Travel section)
New Orleans (New York Times Magazine)
South Africa tour blog for Classical MPR
Poetry collections: Spiral Bound and Pound of Steam