In M.O. Walsh’s endearing new novel, a strange machine disrupts life in a small Southern town
…the machine include two troubled teens, the town mayor, a priest, a principal, and a recovering alcoholic who offers a free taxi service. All of these characters are fully realized…
After three decades in children’s books, acclaimed author-illustrator David Wiesner is still eager to innovate
…— but he also speaks fervently about pushing himself as an artist and trying new things. Wiesner’s session at the 2020 festival will bring him full circle. His first experience…
You Want More spans the career of one of the South’s most beloved storytellers
…something like the John Prine or Tom Waits of Southern scribes: revered, honored, and esteemed but almost criminally underappreciated. Indeed, Singleton’s work is too original, too wildly hilarious and inventive…
Ayad Akhtar creates a powerful literary assemblage in Homeland Elegies
…unfolds across a mash of forms, from family saga to political op-ed to Muslim history. Akhtar’s parents, both doctors, came to the United States to work. Ayad was born in…
In Yaa Gyasi’s Transcendent Kingdom, a neuroscientist tries to makes sense of her family’s unraveling
…prowess — so that Transcendent Kingdom tells several stories simultaneously. Alongside Gifty’s bildungsroman is her family’s story of immigration, from the tightly woven social fabric of Ghana to the isolation…
Erica Waters’ Ghost Wood Song is a suspenseful story about grief, bravery, and growing up
…reveal the real essence of the story: themes of healing and letting go and the connection between music, loss, and family. This gripping novel exemplifies how a mystery can be…
