ARTS Pick: The Public
Mighty pen: Emilio Estevez didn’t take his father’s stage surname because he wanted to honor his Spanish heritage—and make his own way in the film business. Being the son of […]
ARTS Pick: Restroy
Monsters of jazz: Led by former Charlottesville resident and current Chicagoan Christopher Dammann on upright bass, Restroy is a jazz sextet that combines electronic and acoustic resources to create a […]
ARTS Pick: Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman
Headstrong monarch: Political conspiracy, abuse of power, personal vanity, and madness dominate playwright Dario Fo’s Elizabeth: Almost by Chance a Woman. Over a period of 12 days, the Virgin Queen […]
Unheard stories: Voices of Adult Learners showcases a different side of Charlottesville
For more than two decades, the Voices of Adult Learners reading has brought a diverse range of writers and experiences to the book festival. “We think it’s really special, given […]
The courage to be earnest
When Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah was growing up in Spring Valley, New York, he didn’t realize writing was a career path. He felt drawn toward the art, even though he was […]
Essential voices: VA book fest panel looks at music as a change agent
About 100 miles outside of Berlin, Germany, author Tim Mohr stood in a snowy field gripping an axe in his hands. He’d borrowed a friend’s car to get there, and, […]
Alice in Blunderland: Arden of Faversham’s murderously funny mishaps
“Comfort thyself, sweet friend; it is not strange / That women will be false and wavering.”—Franklin, Arden of Faversham (Act 1, scene 1) Maybe the scheduling was merely coincidental, but […]
Port of entry: Oscar-nominated Swedish film Border reframes the fairy tale
As Disney finds the next title from its vault to adapt, Border explores what it means to truly update a fairy tale for modern audiences. What is a fairy tale, […]
Novelist Don Winslow offers insight into the drug trade
Crime author Don Winslow has spent nearly the past 20 of his career writing about the Mexican-American drug trade. “My number-one job and my first priority is to tell a […]
Writing the footnotes: The author of Booker Prize-nominee Washington Black
Award-winning Canadian author Esi Edugyan’s latest novel, Washington Black, begins in the brutal world of a Barbados sugar plantation in the 1830s. But the story, quite literally, soon soars beyond, […]