In 'Come Back in September,' Darryl Pinckney shares with vivid detail his formative years and literary apprenticeship in the heart of New York City's intellectual world of the 1970s. Navigating the dynamic landscape of culture, art, and politics, Pinckney finds mentors in literary icons Elizabeth Hardwick and Barbara Epstein. Their guidance offers him a front-row seat to a world of literary giants, New Wave artists, and groundbreaking movements. As he moves through circles that include Susan Sontag, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and others, he grapples with his family's political ideals and the lessons of black history. This memoir weaves together his personal journey, the pulsating life of the city, and the shaping of his own voice as a writer in a decade marked by cultural revolutions, literary innovation, and the pursuit of intellectual liberty. 'Come Back in September' is more than a testament to a bygone era; it's a portrayal of the emergence of a critical voice in American literature.