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 […]
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 […]
Plastic bags, candy wrappers, puzzle pieces, and leaves don’t usually top the list of materials used to create the fancy frocks we see on catwalks and red carpets. Except, that is, at the annual St. Anne’s-Belfield Wearable Arts Runway Show, where upper-school students like Annie Yuan (left) repurposed and recycled existing materials to create the […]
Landscape photographer Karen Duncan Pape turns her lens to the page in “De-Circulated,” an exhibition of reconstructed covers of banned books on display at McGuffey Art Center through January 28. “Growing up in Southwest Virginia, books were extremely important to me, as they exposed me to other worlds and broadened my perspective,” says Pape. “I […]
Take a deep dive into the culture and legacy of African American violinists in director Eduardo Montes-Bradley’s Black Fiddlers. The 60-minute documentary shares the stories and sounds of Black men and women throughout American history, like the late old-time fiddler Joe Thompson (pictured) and 18th-century Richmond virtuoso Sy Gilliat, an enslaved man whose opera melodies […]
Boston-based fiddler Maura Shawn Scanlin is putting her own inventive twist on traditional Celtic tunes. An award-winning musician, Scanlin incorporates classical chamber music and traditional sounds from the American South, along with Irish and Scottish fiddle playing into her fluid compositions. Scanlin is touring her new self-titled record with Conor Hearn on guitar, Adam Hendey […]
Funny guy Trae Crowder sounds off to live audiences during his Just Me and Y’all Tour. The comedian first went viral in 2016 for his porch rant-style “Liberal Redneck” videos. He’s since co-written two books, The Liberal Redneck Manifesto and Round Here and Over Yonder: A Front Porch Travel Guide by Two Progressive Hillbillies, hosted […]
Director-co-screenwriter J.A. Bayona’s Society of the Snow is a well-made, engrossing story of survival told straightforwardly and conventionally. The film deftly depicts a horrifying, real-life tragedy and, although it is vivid, it avoids being sordid. In October 1972, Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 to Chile, carrying a rugby team of young men and some of […]
Throw on your Stetsons and boot cuts, and follow along as local string band Big Silo walks you through the moves before getting the Boot Scoot Square Dance started with old-time favorites. Caller Hannah Johnson keeps the party going, and the Potter’s kitchen serves up its new menu of gourmet sammies as the cider flows. […]
Funny guys Roy Wood Jr. and Jordan Klepper “celebrate America before it explodes and sinks into the ocean” in their America, For the Last Time Tour. The live show takes on the format of a town hall that offers comical, half-baked analyses on issues that matter (and don’t) with 100 percent confidence. Wood and Klepper […]
If you’re not so keen on the UVA men’s basketball team this season, get your Wa-hoo-wa on at a live screening of the UVA women’s basketball game as the Hoos take on their ACC rivals at the University of North Carolina. Snag a comfy theater seat, stock up on concessions, put on your foam fingers, […]