Angela Nissel will appear in support of her new memoir, Good Grief, Pass the Bread, Mom Is Dead (Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers), a brutally honest and laugh-out-loud funny memoir about grief, caregiving, mental health, and survival. In the book, Nissel chronicles her unexpected role as caretaker to her terminally ill mother while navigating depression, divorce, financial hardship, and a flock of emotional support pigeons. As she attempts to save her mother’s life through everything from crystals to celebrity doctors — while also dealing with lawsuits, scammers, and her own unraveling — Nissel delivers a darkly funny portrait of love, yearning, grief, and resilience.
Nissel first gained national attention with her cult-favorite bestseller The Broke Diaries and as co-founder of Okayplayer alongside Questlove, helping shape one of the earliest and most influential online communities in Black internet culture. She later built a television career writing and producing comedy for acclaimed series, including Scrubs, The Boondocks, and Ginny & Georgia. Throughout her twenty-year career, she’s appeared on The Oprah Show, Today, and several late-night talk shows. Recently, Dave Chappelle also famously shouted her out “as a dope black comedy writer” in his Netflix special The Closer.
The 2026 American Writers Festival takes place Saturday, June 6, from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. at the American Writers Museum (180 N. Michigan Avenue) and Sunday, June 7, from 10 a.m.–5 p.m. at Harold Washington Library Center (400 S. State Street). All programs are free and open to the public. More information is available at americanwritersfestival.org.
