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Seattle Author Kristen Millares Young Follows Her ‘Desire Lines’
Blurring the lines between desire and expectation, her debut memoir explores what women inherit, sacrifice, and claim for themselves.
This article originally appeared in the September/October 2026 issue of Seattle magazine.
In her debut memoir, local author Kristen Millares Young dives straight into precarious experience of being a woman. Blending myth, history, personal essay, and travelogue, Desire Lines (Red Hen Press), out October 6, is an unflinching look at the challenge of balancing one’s own desires with the demands of motherhood, marriage, and work, and the lengths creative women will go to produce their art.
Through a series of essays, Millares Young reflects on her struggle with ovarian tumors, the patriarchal systems stacked against her, and the lingering traumas passed down through her family; still, she continues to seek liberation for women: from expectations, from dependency, from the stifl ing of their voices. Desire Lines is a potent feminist text—at times hard to read for the things it lays bare, but worth pushing through for its reminder of the power of storytelling and the importance of following our personal convictions.
Kristen Millares Young will be at Elliott Bay Books on October 9 for the launch of Desire Lines.
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