Arts Culture

Addiction and identity

Poet Kaveh Akbar’s debut novel, Martyr!, explores themes of addiction and sobriety, grief and grace, trauma and love. Rich with Daedalian prose, this semi-autobiographical bildungsroman tells the story of Cyrus Shams, a young Iranian American poet and recovering alcoholic.  Born in Iran but currently living in an Indiana college town, Cyrus is drifting, purposeless, and […]

Sarah Lawson | January 24, 2024

Arts Culture

Life among the ruins

“The loveliness of deer might go without saying, but still, there it is: The more you look, the more they seduce,” writes Erika Howsare in her debut nonfiction book, The Age of Deer: Trouble and Kinship with our Wild Neighbors. Published earlier this month, the book showcases Howsare’s keen journalistic skills as well as her […]

Sarah Lawson | January 10, 2024

Arts

Local author Emma Rathbone stays focused with Losing It

Writing a novel isn’t easy by most measures, but it’s said that your second novel is where the anxiety really kicks in. Pressure builds to craft a book that’s readable and critically embraced, without being too similar to its predecessor. Of course, this is even more true if your first was met with popular success. […]

Sarah Lawson | July 19, 2016

Arts

Chris Keup launches music publishing company Salinger Songs

It’s no secret that Chris Keup’s White Star Sound studio has a knack for producing stellar tracks for local as well as nationally known musicians. Now Keup is working to expand his purview with a new venture in music publishing: Salinger Songs. Related Links: White Star Sound offers musicians a full-service lift-off A musician and […]

Sarah Lawson | July 6, 2016

Arts

Matthew Gatto’s Parlor of Horrors seeks new home

When was the last time you fell asleep thinking about monsters in the other room? For most of us, that thought fades after childhood. But Matthew Gatto knows there are monsters just 10 feet away from where he sleeps. They reside in his living room or, as it’s more commonly known, the Parlor of Horrors. […]

Sarah Lawson | June 22, 2016

Arts

Festival of the Photograph offers new slate of free events

“I began asking local residents if they’d heard of LOOK3. The vast majority said, ‘Oh, you mean the pictures in the trees!,’” says Mary Virginia Swanson, LOOK3 Festival of the Photograph executive director. “I knew then that we needed to reach out with community-based programs that would be free and open to all.” Indeed, as a […]

Sarah Lawson | June 7, 2016

Arts

From UVA grad to Silicon Valley game developer

For some of the graduating UVA students who will walk the Lawn this weekend, it might be difficult to see any direct connections between a major and a future career. Many will receive a degree that provides an obvious path; others have chosen English or other courses of study that are, let’s say, a bit […]

Sarah Lawson | May 17, 2016

Arts

Traditions continue at Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Showcase

“I see apprenticeships as a crucial part of keeping folk traditions alive,” says Jack Dunlap, a mandolin player who is part of the Virginia Folklife Apprenticeship Showcase. In the program’s most recent class, Dunlap worked with master musician Danny Knicely. Together, they composed and recorded a bluegrass album titled Chop Shred and Split: A Mandolin Player’s […]

Sarah Lawson | May 10, 2016

Arts

A new boost for the Charlottesville Mural Project

If you walk or drive past the Corner in the next few weeks, you may be surprised to see people suspended from the top floor of the Graduate hotel. These aren’t aerialists or stunt doubles for a local action movie; they’re muralists painting the latest installation of the Charlottesville Mural Project. Using a swing stage, […]

Sarah Lawson | April 26, 2016