Nichole Perkins explores themes of identity, liberation, and belonging
…this before,” we are brought into Perkins’ Black-girl chamber of secrets, as she contends for sexual, social, and intellectual freedom on the page. She reconstructs text message conversations, which sometimes…
A hilarious and poignant YA novel about finding your place in the world
…a loner, often irreverent, sometimes vulgar, incredibly funny, a nature lover, and artistically gifted. When she’s not working as Star’s uncredited and unpaid staff, she creates beautiful collages using natural…
Kathi Appelt delivers an epic tale of camels, kestrels, and the power of stories
…Southern Festival of Books visit. Yours will be virtual, yes? Appelt: I don’t have all the details yet, but yes, mine will be virtual. Alas! I miss being present, in…
Wiley Cash’s fourth novel combines rich characters and compelling mystery
…Ghosts Come Home. Photo: Mallory Cash Set in 1984 in the small North Carolina coastal town of Oak Island, When Ghosts Come Home opens as an early-morning, low-flying airplane awakens…
Kristen Radtke’s Seek You considers our solitary era
…Casey Kasem’s “American Top Forty.” Seek You braids the science of loneliness, from extensive experiments to recent discoveries, with her personal history. Radtke writes candidly about nomadic treks from the…
Brian Broome’s memoir rescues a childhood ended too soon
…hometown renders his father an angry, unemployed shell of a man, but Broome revisits his paternal relationship with enlightened eyes. Oftentimes, he seems to conclude, Black parents’ love for their…
