Leila Renee is a writer whose fiction has appeared in McSweeney’s, The Kenyon Review, and elsewhere. A recipient of the Gulf Coast Prize in Fiction and a Fulbright Award, and an MFA graduate of Syracuse University, she now makes her debut with Soft Spots, a darkly funny, emotionally incisive novel about family estrangement, obsession, and the difficult work of forgiveness.
Soft Spots follows recent college graduate Robin Clarke after she flees her abusive family for a teaching job in South Bend, Indiana. As Robin becomes increasingly consumed by her dysfunctional school, her seemingly perfect roommate, and the possibility of reconciliation with her ailing father, the novel explores memory, self-sabotage, and the stories we tell ourselves to survive.
We asked Renee to answer our recurring My Reading Life Q&A so readers can get to know the books that shaped her life and influenced her writing.
What was the first book you were obsessed with as a child?
The first book that I became utterly obsessed with was Dr. Seuss’s There’s a Wocket in My Pocket! I used to walk around the house checking my pockets, genuinely hoping to find a “Wocket” or some other creature. The book was as zany and inventive as another book with which I later became obsessed: Norton Juster’s The Phantom Tollbooth. However, the series that filled my childhood bookshelf were Barbara Park’s Junie B. Jones and Ann M. Martin’s The Baby-Sitters Club. I guess I always had a taste for strong female protagonists.
What book helped you through puberty?
Maybe this is grotesque, but I read all the Goosebumps books in fourth and fifth grade, multiple times. I was also a huge fan of the I Am America series, which were these little novels about important historical figures. I also loved Louis Lowry’s The Giver and the book Zlata’s Diary, written by a girl in Sarajevo before the Bosnian War. I guess I had pretty dark taste during those years. Really, I just loved to read stories about young people overcoming seemingly insurmountable forces and taking control over their lives. Last but not least, The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake was the first book I ever read with a Black girl protagonist, and I only read it in sixth grade, during the darkest days of puberty. Flake’s novel really inspired me as a person and a future writer.
What book do you wish 16-year-old you had read?
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison! My absolute favorite novel, even today. I first got to read this book during English class in my senior year of high school and it changed my life. I wish I could have read it even sooner.
If you were to teach a class on Damn Good Writing, what books would make the syllabus?
There are too many good books to fit into any semester or year, but if I had to pick 12 books that land what I think is the perfect combination of being technically masterful, emotionally resonant, and deeply entertaining, I’d select a combination of story collections and novels:
The Road, Cormac McCarthy
Sing, Unburied, Sing, Jesmyn Ward
Krik? Krak! Edwidge Danticat
Before You Suffocate Your Own Fool Self, Danielle Evans
Remains of the Day, Kazuo Ishiguro
Heavy, Kiese Laymon
A Lucky Man, Jamel Brinkley
On Beauty, Zadie Smith
Intimacies, Katie Kitamura
In the Country, Mia Alvar
Night at the Fiestas, Kirstin Valdez Quade
Slaughterhouse-Five, Kurt Vonnegut
What books helped guide you while writing your book?
I’d like to think that any book I’ve ever read is still walking with me on my writing journey, but if I have to name some of the books that helped guide my novel Soft Spots, they would be: Burger’s Daughter by Nadine Gordimer (loved the structure and voice), My Brilliant Friend by Elena Ferrante and Toni Morrison’s Sula (complex female friendship narratives), Raven Leilani’s Luster (loved the chaotic yet lovable protagonist), The Sellout by Paul Beatty (a funny and absurd literary novel). While initially drafting Soft Spots in 2020, I was also reading Edward P. Jones’s The Known World, which is a structural marvel, and had recently read My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh. These novels also really inspired me! I’m indebted to so many authors.
What books are on your nightstand now?
I keep the books I either love or plan to read very soon on my nightstand! Right now, I have:
The Dark Side of Skin by Brazilian writer Jeferson Tenório is a stunning yet haunting novel about a father and son that explores race and police brutality in Brazil. I read this in 2025 and found it so beautifully written.
Crawl: Stories by Max Delsohn, a fellow Syracuse alum! This is near the top of my TBR pile. Max’s stories are just so good.
The Rings of Saturn by W.G. Sebald has been on my TBR for a while, especially since I’ve been a bit obsessed with space lately. Saturn is my favorite planet, and Sebald never misses.
Goodbye, Sweetwater, a story collection from Henry Dumas, is also very high on my to-read list. Dumas was from Arkansas, just like my great-grandparents were. I’m also intrigued to read because Dumas was a promising Black writer who was tragically killed by NYC Transit Police in 1968 at the age of 33. I want to read this book to honor his legacy.
The Furrows by Namwali Serpell! I’m currently making my way through this novel. It is so trippy and gorgeous.