'Married' to it

By Meredith Deliso

To say Emma Straub is busy is an understatement.

A typical day may find the writer making posters through M + E, the printing business she runs with her husband out of their Prospect Lefferts Gardens studio, volunteering at the non-profit Girls Write Now, and, of course, writing.

Over the past five years or so, she’s managed to eke out a collection of witty, sharply observed short stories, whose recurring themes of love, loss and alienation belie the author’s sunny disposition. That compilation, “Other People We Married,” which includes her acclaimed novella, “Fly-Over State,” comes out next month, and she celebrates with a reading at BookCourt this Thursday.

Oh, did we mention she works there, too?      

“Whenever I get to do anything at BookCourt, it’s like extra fun,” said Straub, who usually stands out at the Cobble Hill bookstore thanks to her vintage hair accessories. “It’s like a giant dollop of whipped cream. I love that I get to work there. It’s almost too wonderful.”

And there’s that sunny disposition.

Emma Straub reads from “Other People We Married” at BookCourt [163 Court St. between Pacific and Dean streets in Cobble Hill, (718) 875-3677], Jan. 27 at 7 pm. For info, visit www.bookcourt.org.