Come Back In September by David Pinckney

A Literary Education on West Sixty-Seventh Street, Manhattan

A memoir of a young writer’s apprenticeship to a formidable critic in 1970s–80s Manhattan, it charts his immersion in a storied literary circle and the lessons, gossip, and discipline that shaped his craft. Wry and affectionate, it’s also a coming‑of‑age tale of a Black, gay artist amid love, drugs, ambition, and the city’s decay and glamour.