Lydi Conklin’s first novel, Songs of No Provenance, was published earlier this month, and tells the story of Joan, a disgraced New York musician seeking reinvention by teaching songwriting at a teen writing camp in rural Virginia. Conklin is also the author of Rainbow Rainbow, a story collection that was long-listed for The Story Prize […]
Lydi Conklin’s first novel, Songs of No Provenance, was published earlier this month, and tells the story of Joan, a disgraced New York musician seeking reinvention by teaching songwriting at a teen writing camp in rural Virginia. Conklin is also the author of Rainbow Rainbow, a story collection that was long-listed for The Story Prize […]
Danzy Senna’s latest novel, Colored Television, tells the story of Jane, a novelist and tenure-track professor, and her husband Lenny, a painter and teacher at a Los Angeles art school that’s described as “a white hipster playground.” As a self-identified mulatto woman married to a Black man, Jane is abundantly aware of issues of race […]
Classical music and criminal narratives commingle on the pages of The Dark Maestro, the latest offering from author, educator, and musician Brendan Slocumb. The book follows Curtis Wilson, a cello prodigy from a Washington, D.C., housing project. Wilson ascends to the heights of his profession, but his life is torn asunder when his father turns […]
Lincoln Michel’s new novel, Metallic Realms, is a skillful send-up of science fiction fandom and writing group dynamics, set in contemporary Brooklyn. Crafted as a book within a book, readers meet the members of a sci-fi writing group known as Orb 4 who are struggling to get along, pay rent, and work on a series […]
It started at a yoga retreat in November 2023. Rachael Kesler Palm was sharing dinner with catering chef Allie Redshaw, who told the story of how she lost her hand after a kitchen accident in 2017. Because Redshaw was pregnant with her second daughter at the time, she chose to undergo amputation surgery without anesthesia. […]
Independent Bookstore Day is on Saturday, April 26, and it offers the perfect excuse to stop by Charlottesville-area bookshops to find a title or two to enjoy amidst these tumultuous times. For inspiration, local booksellers share their reading recommendations below.—Sarah Lawson 2nd Act Books Charlie Newman-Johnson, manager The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell “The plot, […]
In her book, Moonlight Elk: One Woman’s Hunt for Food and Freedom, Christie Green writes: “When the days are distilled into life and death moments and attuned to tiny toenail prints in the soil and subtle wind shifts, my old identities pale.” A sensuous exploration of the animal world and our place within it, Green’s […]
When Micah LeMon titled his 2017 mixology manual, The Imbible: A Cocktail Guide for Beginning and Home Bartenders, he wasn’t expecting a lawsuit. After nearly two decades behind the bar, a master’s in linguistics, an abandoned Ph.D., a Hollywood stint, and being part of the opening team at the James Beard-nominated Alley Light restaurant, LeMon […]
The New York Daily News once called it “The death that won’t die.” On September 14, 1983, Michael Stewart, a 25-year-old artist and DJ, was taken into custody by a transit officer who claimed Stewart was graffitiing a subway wall. Half an hour after his arrest, Stewart arrived at Bellevue Hospital hogtied, severely bruised, not […]
Books are the ultimate means of travel. Through them, we explore the globe, navigate time, and visit alien and imagined worlds. Books immerse us in the experiences and cultures of others and help us feel connected. Though books can take us anywhere, we get to be locals for the upcoming Virginia Festival of the Book, […]