A young dancer grapples with identity in The Archer
In Shruti Swamy’s novel The Archer, a young dancer named Vidya explores her identity as an artist and as a woman. She both conforms to and defies the traditional expectations of her gender and class, all while grappling with the desires of her body and mind and the raw ache of abandonment after the loss of her mother. Swamy will appear at a virtual session of the 2021 Southern Festival of Books.
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Joy Harjo’s Poet Warrior illuminates her journey with words
Blending poetry and prose, Joy Harjo’s second memoir, Poet Warrior, braids her story of becoming an accomplished poet and modern Native woman — always guided by her ancestors in the Muscogee (Creek) Nation — into the larger context of Native history.
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Young women use magic to achieve vigilante justice
Erica Waters’ second novel, The River Has Teeth, tells the story of one girl’s search for her missing older sister and a witch’s quest to hide the monster she believes is responsible for the disappearance. Waters will appear at the online 2021 Southern Festival of Books.
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Ron Rash’s In the Valley displays his masterful command of short fiction
From haunting, short-form meditations on loss to a thrilling, suspenseful novella that revives an indelible antihero, In the Valley offers a distillation of Ron Rash’s storytelling mastery at its best. Rash will discuss In the Valley at the online 2021 Southern Festival of Books on October 9.
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Erin A. Craig unleashes chills in Small Favors
In Erin A. Craig’s second YA thriller, a growing sense of unease slowly envelops the community of Amity Falls. Crops turn bad. Supplies disappear. Bizarre creatures are seen in the dark. And irrational suspicions among the village’s citizens threaten to disrupt the status quo. Young Ellerie Downing may be the only one to save them all, if she can only get past her own doubts and fears.
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Rosecrans Baldwin tries to make sense of Los Angeles
Author of two bestselling novels, as well as the widely acclaimed memoir Paris, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down, Rosecrans Baldwin turns to nonfiction with an essay collection. In Everything Now: Lessons from the City-State of Los Angeles, Baldwin grapples with defining the second largest urban entity in the U.S.
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