In How Moon Fuentez Fell in Love with the Universe, Raquel Vasquez Gilliland introduces readers to 17-year-old Moon, who longs to be loved for who she is but worries that she doesn’t deserve success and happiness — especially since everyone keeps comparing her to her more popular sister. Gilliland will discuss the novel at the online 2021 Southern Festival of Books on September 21.
In an early chapter of Bewilderment, Richard Powers’ heartbreaking and transcendent new novel, astrobiologist Theo Byrne charts the far reaches of the universe for all forms of life. But caring for his troubled young son, Robin, becomes a more dangerous and profound experiment, provoking questions about radical empathy and humankind’s survival.
Wiley Cash’s When Ghosts Come Home is a timely novel that, while certainly dark, also asks us to believe in hope. Cash will discuss the novel at a virtual event hosted by Novel in Memphis on September 23 and at the online 2021 Southern Festival of Books.
Kristen Radtke’s Seek You explores the pain and pleasure of solitude in a time of isolation. Radtke will appear at the online 2021 Southern Festival of Books.
Punch Me Up to the Gods by Brian Broome is a Black, gay, coming-of-age memoir. Broome, a screenwriter and poet, recounts his formative years in Ohio and his subsequent escape. Against the backdrop of Ronald Reagan’s conservative America, the book presents scenes of Black boy initiation into the order of masculinity. Broome will appear at the online 2021 Southern Festival of Books.
In Late City, Robert Olen Butler imagines a deathbed dialogue between God and a 115-year-old man who happens to be America’s last surviving veteran of World War I. Butler will discuss Late City at the online 2021 Southern Festival of Books.
