Events Calendar
Explore family friendly events, theatres, galleries, concerts, nightlife, things to do, and more in the Greenville, SC and Upstate areas.
Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.
Join us for an evening with New York Times bestselling author Ellery Adams! We’re excited to celebrate the next installment of her charming Secret, Book, and Scone Society series hailed as “a love letter to reading” (Entertainment Weekly) and starring bookshop owner, bibliotherapist, and occasional sleuth Nora Pennington.
Miracle Springs, North Carolina—the fictional picturesque setting of the Secret, Book, and Scone Society series—is famed for its healing springs, and has thousands of people that flock to the town each year. But bookstore owner and bibliotherapist Nora Pennington tends to land in a different kind of hot water. When she isn’t prescribing the perfect book to cure her customers’ maladies, she’s solving local crimes with the help of her Secret, Book, and Scone Society members—Hester, June, and Estella. Just a touch of magical realism and strong, female-driven stories are winning this series raves from readers and fans of Kate Carlisle, Lorna Barrett, and Adams’s Book Retreat Mysteries.
It couldn’t be a more bookish night between the stories and cocktails.
Your ticket includes admission, a cocktail, and a copy of the book.
BOOK SUMMARY
Nora escaped her past a decade ago. So it feels like a visit from another world when Kelly Walsh—the woman her ex-husband left her for—walks through the door of Miracle Books along with her son, a sweet, serious boy with a talent for origami. Kelly hasn’t come to gloat, though. As it turns out, she’s been dumped too. She’s also terribly ill, and all she wants from Nora is
forgiveness. Shockingly, however, this woman who’s been the victim of so much misfortune is about to become a murder victim. Who would do such a thing? Certainly not Nora, but that doesn’t stop the gossip and suspicion—especially after Kelly’s brother claims that he saw the two women arguing. In seeking justice for Kelly, The Secret, Book, and Scone Society joins forces with the sheriff’s department, but they’ve barely begun their probe when life throws another wrench. After serving a twenty-year sentence, Estella’s father returns to Miracle Springs. And when his past comes back to haunt him, it might be more than the four friends can handle.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ellery Adams is the New York Times bestselling author of two cookbooks and over thirty mysteries, including the Book Retreat Mysteries, The Secret, Book, & Scone Society series, the Books by the Bay Mysteries, and the Charmed Pie Shoppe Mysteries. A native New Yorker, she has had a lifelong love affair with stories, food, rescue animals, and large bodies of water. When not working on her next novel, she reads, bakes, gardens, spoils her three cats, and rearranges her bookshelves. She lives with her husband and two children in Chapel Hill, NC.
Join Hub City Bookshop in welcoming Marie Bostwick for her new novel Esme Cahill Fails Spectacularly! This story of family ties is perfect for fans of Mary Alice Monroe and Kristy Woodson Harvey.
A copy of the book, coffee, and pastries are included in the ticket price!
About the Book
Esme Cahill thinks she has failed spectacularly: fired from her New York City publishing job, divorced from her husband, and possessing little more than a broken-down car and a pile of unfinished manuscripts, she drives home to Asheville at the request of her late grandmother, Adele, who had begged her, just before she died, to return to the place she grew up.
There she discovers the once-charming lakeside retreat run by her family is sliding toward financial ruin, so with the help of her grandfather, George; estranged mother, Robyn; and a travelling chef Dawes (maker of the world’s best grilled cheese sandwich) they set to work. In the attic, Esme unearths a trove of museum-worthy art quilts, sewn by Adele. Piecing together the inspiration behind them, Esme discovers a forgotten chapter in her family history and her grandmother’s untold story, that of a gifted artist who never received her due.
This is an always-emotional, sometimes humorous, very human novel of what it means to be family—the ties that bind us together and the unintentional hurts that can rend us apart. And, along the way, Esme learns that failure can be the first step toward the life you’re meant to find.
About the Author
A New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of nineteen uplifting works of historical and contemporary fiction, Marie’s books are beloved by readers across the globe.
Drawing on her lifelong love of quilting and her unshakable belief in the power of sisterhood, Marie’s popular Cobbled Court Quilt series has been embraced by quilters and non-sewers alike. Her standalone books have also found a passionate following among lovers of women’s fiction. Marie’s novel, “The Second Sister” was adapted into the 2018 Hallmark Hall of Fame feature film “Christmas Everlasting”, starring Patti LaBelle. Marie’s novel, Hope on the Inside, was published in March 2019 and was chosen as a Reader’s Digest “Select Editions” book.
Marie’s latest endeavor is Fiercely Marie, a lifestyle blog that encourages women to live every minute and love every moment.
Marie lives in Oregon with her husband and a beautiful but moderately spoiled Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.
Join South Carolina author S.Q. Peake for an in-store signing at Fiction Addiction on Saturday, June 3rd from 2-4pm to celebrate his new book, Legends of the Soul.
This event is free and open to the public, or you can purchase an $13.77 ticket that includes a copy of Legends of the Soul. Additional books can be ordered on our website or purchased at the event while supplies last.
If you’re unable to attend, signed copies of the author’s book can be purchased on our website.
Book tickets can be purchased online through Friday, June 2nd, at 2:30pm. Refunds can be requested up until the ticket cutoff. At-the-door tickets and books will be available as space allows.
The world of soul power, enhanced individuals, and legends is still a relatively new one. Ten-year-olds Dewayne and Taurean are enhanced descendants who, despite their physical gifts, both struggle with their own conflicts and journey to legendary status. One is completely dependent on his own training. As a result, he is often ridiculed for being feeble, among other things. After being pushed too far, he shows the world what he can do. The other is well underway in his formal training and is seen as a prodigy. But his natural introverted disposition makes it difficult to handle the attention. After receiving advice from two masters, the introvert must step out of his shell to find a decent training partner if he wishes to progress.
About the Author:
S.Q. Peake is a new author out of South Carolina. He believes a good story and a good read induces healing and creates bridges between people. This author is a fan of every genre, a movie lover and a huge football fan. He’s a proud father of four and a strong believer in his faith.
Refund Policy:
- You may request a full refund prior to the ticket cutoff.
We are so excited to welcome Kristin Harmel back to M. Judson for a Lunch & Lit event for her new book The Paris Daughter.
Bestselling author of the “heart-stopping tale of survival and heroism” (People) The Book of Lost Names, Kristin’s latest book is a gripping historical novel about two mothers who must make unthinkable choices in the face of the Nazi occupation.
Kristin will be on hand to talk, answer questions, and sign books, as we enjoy an incredible lunch at Soby’s! Get your ticket today!
BOOK SUMMARY
Paris, 1939: Young mothers Elise and Juliette become fast friends the day they meet in the beautiful Bois de Boulogne. Though there is a shadow of war creeping across Europe, neither woman suspects that their lives are about to irrevocably change.
When Elise becomes a target of the German occupation, she entrusts Juliette with the most precious thing in her life—her young daughter, playmate to Juliette’s own little girl. But nowhere is safe in war, not even a quiet little bookshop like Juliette’s Librairie des Rêves, and, when a bomb falls on their neighborhood, Juliette’s world is destroyed along with it.
More than a year later, with the war finally ending, Elise returns to reunite with her daughter, only to find her friend’s bookstore reduced to rubble—and Juliette nowhere to be found. What happened to her daughter in those last, terrible moments? Juliette has seemingly vanished without a trace, taking all the answers with her. Elise’s desperate search leads her to New York—and to Juliette—one final, fateful time.
An “exquisite and gut-wrenching novel” (Lisa Barr, New York Times bestselling author) you won’t soon forget, The Paris Daughter is also a sweeping celebration of resilience, motherhood, and love.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kristin Harmel is the New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen novels including The Forest of Vanishing Stars, The Book of Lost Names, The Room on Rue Amélie, and The Sweetness of Forgetting. She is published in more than thirty languages and is the cofounder and cohost of the popular web series, Friends & Fiction. She lives in Orlando, Florida.
Join award-winning cookbook author Cynthia Graubart for an in-store signing at Fiction Addiction on Thursday, June 8th from 3-5pm to celebrate her new book, Zucchini Love.
This event is free and open to the public, or you can purchase a $15.89 ticket that includes a copy of Zucchini Love. Additional books can be ordered on our website or purchased at the event while supplies last.
If you’re unable to attend, signed copies of the author’s book can be purchased on our website.
Book tickets can be purchased online through Thursday, June 8th, at 1pm. Refunds can be requested up until the ticket cutoff. At-the-door tickets and books will be available as space allows.
Grate, slice, chop, spiralize, pickle, and transform a bumper crop of zukes into delicious dishes to share all season long. Sweet to savory, breakfast to dinner, Zucchini Love proves how versatile this summer favorite can be! Both an easy-to-grow beginner crop for the newbie gardener and a popular offering at supermarkets and farmers markets alike, zucchinis take center stage in this single-subject cookbook, adding a high nutrient, low carb, and delicious twist to every meal. James Beard Award-winning cookbook author Cynthia Graubart brings her passion for producing veggie-forward family meals to over 40 recipes. Home cooks will find fresh takes on the classics like Lemon Glazed Zucchini Bread and Garlic-Sesame Zoodle Bowls with Shrimp, plus creative ideas for tasty snacks like Zucchini Fritters with Tahini Dip, satisfying main courses like Chicken-Stuffed Zucchini Boats, and irresistible desserts like Zucchini Fudge Brownies. Mouthwatering full-color photos and step-by-step instructions accompany each recipe—plus there are tips for picking, freezing, and preserving—making the book easy to use and highly browsable.
About the Author:
Cynthia Graubart is co-founder with Virginia Willis of Culinary Media Training and Productions, a full-service company designed to help food related companies and individuals succeed in the modern digital world. She is a James Beard Foundation Award-winning cookbook author of 12 cookbooks, culinary television producer, and a frequent guest on morning TV. Her recipes have appeared in the New York Times, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Atlanta Journal Constitution, http://SeriousEats.com , Better Homes & Gardens, Southern Living, and Taste of the South, among many others. She’s passionate about helping cooks conquer their kitchen fears and helping families spend more time at the dinner table together. She is the chair of the Broadcast Committee for the James Beard Awards and is currently at work on a history of community cookbooks in Georgia. Join Cynthia online at cynthiagraubart.com.
Join us for an evening with Krisitn Harmel! Bestselling author of the “heart-stopping tale of survival and heroism” (People) The Book of Lost Names, Kristin’s latest book is a gripping historical novel about two mothers who must make unthinkable choices in the face of the Nazi occupation. Come sip a book-inspired cocktail while we hear all about the writing of The Paris Daughter.
Your ticket includes admission, a cocktail, and a copy of the book.
BOOK SUMMARY
Paris, 1939: Young mothers Elise and Juliette become fast friends the day they meet in the beautiful Bois de Boulogne. Though there is a shadow of war creeping across Europe, neither woman suspects that their lives are about to irrevocably change.
When Elise becomes a target of the German occupation, she entrusts Juliette with the most precious thing in her life—her young daughter, playmate to Juliette’s own little girl. But nowhere is safe in war, not even a quiet little bookshop like Juliette’s Librairie des Rêves, and, when a bomb falls on their neighborhood, Juliette’s world is destroyed along with it.
More than a year later, with the war finally ending, Elise returns to reunite with her daughter, only to find her friend’s bookstore reduced to rubble—and Juliette nowhere to be found. What happened to her daughter in those last, terrible moments? Juliette has seemingly vanished without a trace, taking all the answers with her. Elise’s desperate search leads her to New York—and to Juliette—one final, fateful time.
An “exquisite and gut-wrenching novel” (Lisa Barr, New York Times bestselling author) you won’t soon forget, The Paris Daughter is also a sweeping celebration of resilience, motherhood, and love.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kristin Harmel is the New York Times bestselling author of more than a dozen novels including The Forest of Vanishing Stars, The Book of Lost Names, The Room on Rue Amélie, and The Sweetness of Forgetting. She is published in more than thirty languages and is the cofounder and cohost of the popular web series, Friends & Fiction. She lives in Orlando, Florida.
Join Hub City Bookshop in welcoming Victoria Benton Frank, daughter of Dorothea Benton Frank! Victoria’s debut novel, My Magnolia Summer, is the perfect summer read, recommended by Ann Patchett, Patti Callahan Henry, and Elin Hildebrand!
The ticket price includes a copy of My Magnolia Summer and a buffet lunch. There will be time for signing at the end of the event.
About the Book
“In My Magnolia Summer, author Victoria Benton Frank spins all the plates and brings all the magic of the low country to life. A tale of the complicated relationships between mothers, daughters and let’s not forget, sisters – this enchanting novel will bring romance and sunshine to your summer reading list.” –Elin Hildebrand, New York Times bestselling author of The Five-Star Weekend
Victoria Benton Frank transports us to her family’s beloved Low Country of South Carolina, in this spicy and heartfelt debut about strong three strong women with strong appetites.
In New York City winter never seems to loosen its hold and for South Carolina transplant Maggie (born Magnolia after the fairest summer flower) the balmy beach weather of April back home on Sullivan’s Island feels like a distant memory. Until a phone call from her sister, Violet, changes everything.
Gran, the treasured matriarch, has fallen into a coma after a car accident caused by Maggie’s troubled mother, Lily. But once Maggie returns, she finds that her hometown of Sullivan’s Island holds even more secrets. The Magic Lantern, the restaurant owned and run by generations of women in her family, is now rudderless, and her sister seems headed for a savage breakup.
Once she is between the marsh grasses and dunes of South Carolina, she feels herself changing like the Atlantic tides, rediscovering the roots she left behind, and a new and different version of herself—one who can see how a minor crash into the back of a very handsome farmer’s truck may become fortunate. Or perhaps it’s even… fate?
When the three generations of South Carolina women join forces—the family pillar Gran, troubled Lily, impulsive Violet, and redoubtable Maggie—anything is possible.
About the Author
Victoria Benton Frank was born in New York City, raised in Montclair, New Jersey, but considers herself to have dual residency in the Lowcountry. She is a graduate of the College of Charleston and the French Culinary Institute. Victoria worked in restaurants in New York before returning to Charleston, South Carolina, which she considers home, with her husband, two kids, and a giant mutt. When she isn’t writing, she is reading, cooking, or chasing her children.
From the award-winning author of Over the Plain Houses comes a major novel about two young women contending with unplanned pregnancies in different eras.
Edie Carrigan didn’t plan to “get herself” pregnant, much less end up in a home for unwed mothers. In 1950s North Carolina, illegitimate pregnancy is kept secret, wayward women require psychiatric cures, and adoption is always the best solution. Not even Edie’s closest friend, Luce Waddell, understands what Edie truly wants: to keep and raise the baby.
Twenty-five years later, Luce is a successful lawyer, and her daughter Meera now faces the same decision Edie once did. Like Luce, Meera is fiercely independent and plans to handle her unexpected pregnancy herself. Along the way, Meera finds startling secrets about her mother’s past, including the long-ago friendship with Edie. As the three women’s lives intertwine and collide, the story circles age-old questions about female awakening, reproductive choice, motherhood, adoption, sex, and missed connections.
For fans of Brit Bennett’s The Mothers and Jennifer Weiner’s Mrs. Everything, The Say So is a timely novel that asks: how do we contend with the rippling effects of the choices we’ve made? With equal parts precision and tenderness, Franks has crafted a sweeping epic about the coming of age of the women’s movement that reverberates through the present day.
About the Author
Julia Franks is the author of Over the Plain Houses, which was an NPR Best Book of 2016 and was awarded five literary prizes. She has published essays in outlets like the New York Times, Ms. Magazine, and The Bitter Southerner. While her roots are in the Southeast, she spent years teaching literature in the US and abroad. She lives in Atlanta.
Join us for a luncheon at the Piedmont Club with Katherine Reay in celebration of her latest novel, A Shadow in Moscow! Perfect for fans of Beatriz Williams and Marie Benedict!
Lunch will be a Chopped Cobb Salad, with grilled chicken and cookies for dessert! Coffee and tea will be available as well.
About the Book
A betrayal at the highest level risks the lives of two courageous female spies: MI6’s best Soviet spy and the CIA’s newest Moscow recruit. As the KGB closes in, a compromise must be struck if either woman hopes to survive.
Vienna, 1954.
After losing everyone she loves in the final days of World War II, Ingrid Bauer agrees to a hasty marriage with a gentle Soviet embassy worker, following him home to Moscow. But nothing deep within the Soviet Union’s totalitarian regime is what it seems, including her new husband, whom Ingrid suspects works for the KGB. Upon her daughter’s birth, Ingrid risks everything and reaches out in hope to the one country she understands and trusts — Britain, the country of her mother’s birth — and starts passing along intelligence to MI6, navigating a world of secrets and lies, and light and shadow.
Washington DC. 1980.
Part of the Foreign Studies Initiative, Anya Kadinova finishes her degree at Georgetown University and boards her flight home to Moscow, leaving behind the man she loves and a country she’s grown to respect. Though raised by dedicated and loyal Soviet parents, Anya soon questions an increasingly oppressive and paranoid Soviet regime at the height of the Cold War. When the KGB murders her best friend, Anya picks sides and contacts the CIA. Working in a military research lab, Anya passes along Soviet military plans and schematics in an effort to end the 1980s arms race.
Alternating between points of view, the past catches up to the present when an unprecedented act of treachery in 1985 threatens all undercover agents operating within the Soviet Union and both women find themselves in a race against time and the KGB.
Join authors David Weber and Jacob Holo for a book talk and signing at Fiction Addiction on Friday, June 16th at 3:00pm to celebrate their new book, The Weltall File.
There are two ticket options for this event. Each ticket is $29.68. The first ticket option admits one and includes a copy of The Weltall File. The second ticket option admits two and includes a copy of The Weltall File. Capacity is limited, so purchase your tickets today! Additional books can be ordered on our website or purchased at the event while supplies last. The authors will be available to mingle and sign books at the event.
Tickets can be purchased online through Friday, June 16th at 1pm. Refunds can be requested up until the ticket cutoff. At-the-door tickets and books will be available as space allows.
COME FOR THE GAMES. STAY FOR THE MURDER.
A mystery in the Gordian Division universe.
The Weltall Tournament’s professional VR games were supposed to be a symbol of cooperation between SysGov and its militaristic neighbor, the Admin. But that was before star Admin player Elly Sako received a death threat, written in blood next to a copy of her own severed head. The Admin’s Department of Temporal Investigation swiftly seizes control of the crime scene, and the tournament transforms into a flashpoint of charged politics and conflicting jurisdictions.
SysPol Detective Isaac Cho and DTI Special Agent Susan Cantrell—partners in the officer exchange program—are sent in to take charge of the investigation and bring the situation under control. But solving this mystery won’t be easy, and the pair struggles to determine who is telling the truth. A jilted relationship between players soon explodes into signs of a far-reaching conspiracy, and the two detectives find themselves racing against time before the tournament ends.
Because the killer will be the only one who wins, should they fail.
About the Authors:
With more than eight million copies of his books in print and 33 titles on the New York Times bestseller list, David Weber is a science fiction powerhouse. In the vastly popular Honor Harrington series, the spirit of C.S. Forester’s Horatio Hornblower and Patrick O’Brian’s Master and Commander live on—into the galactic future. Books in the Honor Harrington and Honorverse series have appeared on 21 bestseller lists, including The Wall Street Journal\,* The New York Times*, and* USA Today*. Additional Honorverse collaborations include the spin-off miniseries Manticore Ascendant with* New York Times best-selling author Timothy Zahn, and with Eric Flint, Crown of Slaves and Cauldron of Ghosts contribute to Weber’s illustrious list of New York Times* and international bestsellers.
Best known for his spirited, modern-minded space operas, Weber is also the creator of the Oath of Swords fantasy series and the Dahak Saga, a science fiction and fantasy hybrid. Weber has also engaged in a steady stream of best-selling collaborations: the Starfire series with Steve White; the Empire of Man series with John Ringo; the Multiverse series with Linda Evans and Joelle Presby; and the Ring of Fire series with Eric Flint.
Jacob Holo has been a recreational geek since childhood, when he discovered Star Wars and Star Trek, and a professional geek since college, when he graduated from Youngstown State University with a degree in Electrical and Controls Engineering. He started writing when his parents bought that “new” IBM 286 desktop, and over the years, those powers combined to push him to the next level of nerddom: a sci-fi author who designs intricate worlds and tech systems…and promptly blows them up in a string of nonstop action.
He is the author of ten books, including national bestsellers The Gordian Protocol and The Valkyrie Protocol (with David Weber), Time Reavers (a Kirkus Reviews Best Indie Book of 2014); The Wizard’s Way (with H.P. Holo), and Monster Punk Horizon: Excess (with H.P. Holo).
Refund Policy:
- You may request a full refund prior to the ticket cutoff.
Join author Sara E. Johnson in conversation with Valerie Nieman for a book talk and signing at Fiction Addiction on Friday, June 23rd at 2pm to celebrate her new book, The Bone Riddle.
Your $18.01 ticket admits one to the event and includes a copy of The Bone Riddle. Additional books can be ordered on our website or purchased at the event while supplies last.
If you’re unable to attend, signed copies of the authors’ books can be purchased on our website.
Tickets can be purchased online through Friday, June 23rd, at noon. Refunds can be requested up until the ticket cutoff. At-the-door tickets and books will be available as space allows.
Forensic specialist Alexa Glock must solve the most dangerous kind of riddle
Alexa Glock loves solving riddles, using her knowledge of teeth to put names to the departed who might otherwise go unidentified, and bringing closure for their families. But when she’s assigned to a case on Cape Kidnappers, it seems cut and dry. The victim, American CEO Harlan Quinn, was found locked inside his own shelter, apparently done in by dehydration. When the autopsy reveals that he suffocated because someone had deliberately shut off the air filtration system from the main house, though, the investigation team must work their way through myriad suspects. Was it the jealous mistress who lived with Quinn on the estate? The angry environmentalists who resented his refusal to preserve land? His Kiwi neighbor who fumes over the land-grab by wealthy Americans?
Using cutting edge forensic technology, Alexa attempts to narrow the suspect field as the murderer strikes again. Will she crack the case before she becomes the next victim?
About the Author:
Sara E. Johnson lives in Durham, North Carolina. She worked as a middle school reading specialist and local newspaper contributor before her husband lured her to New Zealand for a year. Her first novel,* Molten Mud Murder*, is the result, followed by The Bones Remember and The Bone Track.
Valerie Nieman’s novel In the Lonely Backwater, winner of the 2022 Sir Walter Raleigh Award, is being called “not only a page-turning thriller but also a complex psychological portrait of a young woman dealing with guilt, betrayal, and secrecy.” To the Bones, a folk horror/mystery, was a finalist for the 2020 Manly Wade Wellman Award, joining three earlier novels, a short fiction collection, and three poetry books, the most recent being Leopard Lady: A Life in Verse. A graduate of West Virginia University and Queens University of Charlotte, she has held state and NEA fellowships and is professor emerita of creative writing at NC A&T State University.
Join Hub City Bookshop for a launch party with Alison Hughey in celebration of the release of her wellness deck Creative & Curious!
About the Project:
Small habits can have big impact in our mental wellness, but can be daunting to keep-especially for those who are neurodivergent, experience high stress levels or live with mental illness. The mission of Creative and Curious Cards for Mental Wellness is to increase engagement in creative practices for mental health among teens and adults, both in direct use and as a resource for therapists and mental health counselors to share with clients.
Each of the four suits (movement, music, writing and visual art) contains 13 distinct prompts from established creatives in the Upstate, SC area which are designed to foster self expression and healing through creativity. Each prompt is kept simple and accessible; no prior creative experience or substantial supplies are needed, and most can be done in less than 10 minutes.
Creative contributors include:
Bailie (Card Art)
Courtney Chandler, ATR-BC (Visual Art Prompts)
Louise Fagan (Writing Prompts)
Susan Woodham (Movement Prompts)
This program is funded in part by the Chapman Cultural Center, its donors, the County and City of Spartanburg and the South Carolina Arts Commission which receives support from the National Endowment for the arts and the John and Susan Bennett Memorial Arts Fund of the Costal Community Foundation of SC.
About Alison
Alison Hughey, MT-BC is a Spartanburg native and lifelong creative. Her private practice, Carolina Music Therapy, serves clients across the upstate. She also facilitates music wellness workshops, healing arts retreat programs, and “edutainment” talks on the power of creativity in connection. In addition to her professional experience in mental health, she also has lived experience of depression, anxiety and PTSD. Creativity has been a lifeline for her, and she is passionate about increasing access to these tools for others.
Join Hub City Bookshop in welcoming Ross White, director of Bull City Press, in celebration of his debut book of poetry! White will be in conversation with Scott Gould. You don’t want to miss this chat about baseball, art, and mortality, so meet us at the bookshop!
About the Book
Ah, yes, the simple pleasures of a junk drawer, the small gods and tender votives they contain. Each tiny nuisance of our history, each fascinating button, leaking pen, soy sauce packet, screw driver. “True son to both Wallace Stevens and Frank O’Hara,” Ross White’s debut Charm Offensive reveals to readers his junk drawer, his smitten seconds, laments, and casual, witty uncertainty on the afterlife.
Opening with a cardiogram–White’s humiliation of his “white belly” and the jokes he shares with his wife over his aging body–and ending with a psychic’s prediction that his life will end at 52 (heart troubles) – White scours time, tenderness, and the mighty (godly) pleasures of overlooked things.
A collection of travel through pasts (Michaelangelo’s David) and futures (when White, too, will be fossilized into something refreshing to future archeologists), through road rage and bumper-sticker Jesus, stillness and the two swans nearly touching in negative space that hold his racing thoughts at bay, the birds he tends back to health and his relationship between dread and satisfaction–everywhere petrified into Charm Offensive White reckons with spoil–bodies, war, the Ford-tough Savior, animal stuffing, in-flight magazines, and the afterlife as a high school in Kansas, proving his line:
“Time is always fully automatic,
measured not in units but in the space
between finishes.”
About the Author
Ross White is the director of Bull City Press, an independent publisher of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction. He is the author of Charm Offensive, winner of the Sexton Prize, and three chapbooks: How We Came Upon the Colony, The Polite Society, and Valley of Want. His poems have appeared in American Poetry Review, New England Review, Ploughshares, Poetry Daily, Tin House, and The Southern Review, among others. He is Director of Creative Writing at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and co-hosts The Chapbook, a podcast devoted to tiny, wonderful things. Follow him on Mastodon: @[email protected].
Join us for a book-inspired wine tasting, Birthday edition!
It’s our Birthday month, and we want to celebrate with you! We’re pairing the qualities of six wines with six books that share the same spirit. Your ticket to the tasting, apart from the tastes, includes your choice of one of the featured books. Bottles of the featured wines will be for sale at great prices, too.
As a special treat, USA Today bestselling author Eliza Knight will be with us, talking about her book Starring Adele Astaire! A story full of glitz and glam, Starring Adele Astaire delves into the life of Adele Astaire, a spirited and talented woman who served up smiles and love both on and off the stage—with and without her also famous brother Fred Astaire— along with a determined young dancer with rags-to-riches dreams.
Help us celebrate with Eliza Knight. Buy your ticket now and join us on Thursday, July 27th!
David Joy will be in the bookshop discussing his latest novel, Those We Thought We Knew, with CONVO PARTNER. Perfect for fans of Ron Rash and Michael Farris Smith!
About the Book
“In every line of this outstanding novel, you feel David Joy’s deep connection to the mountains he comes from and the people who live there. With his faultless ear for dialogue and exceptional sense of place, he has crafted a beautiful literary crime thriller about belonging and betrayal in rural America.” –Paula Hawkins, author of The Girl on the Train and Slow Fire Burning
Toya Gardner, a young Black artist from Atlanta, has returned to her ancestral home in the North Carolina mountains to trace her family history and complete her graduate thesis. But when she encounters a still-standing Confederate monument in the heart of town, she sets her sights on something bigger.
Meanwhile, local deputies find a man sleeping in the back of a station wagon and believe him to be nothing more than some slack-jawed drifter. Yet a search of the man’s vehicle reveals that he is a high-ranking member of the Klan, and the uncovering of a notebook filled with local names threatens to turn the mountain on end.
After two horrific crimes split the county apart, every soul must wrestle with deep and unspoken secrets that stretch back for generations. THOSE WE THOUGHT WE KNEW is an urgent unraveling of the dark underbelly of a community. Richly drawn and bracingly honest, it asks what happens when the people you’ve always known turn out to be monsters, what do you do when everything you ever believed crumbles away?
About the Author
David Joy is the author of When These Mountains Burn (winner of the 2020 Dashiell Hammett Award), The LineThat Held Us (winner of the 2018 SIBA Book Prize), The Weight of This World, and Where All Light Tends to Go (Edgar finalist for Best First Novel). Joy lives in Tuckasegee, North Carolina.
About the Conversation Partner
Leah Hampton writes about Appalachia, corpses, ecoanxiety, and smart women. She currently serves as the Environmental Humanities and Creative Writing Fellow in Residence at the University of Idaho’s Confluence Lab. Her debut collection, F*ckface and Other Stories, was released by Henry Holt and was named one of the best books of 2020 by The Paris Review, the New York Public Library, and Slate. A graduate of the Michener Center for Writers, she has been awarded multiple prizes and fellowships and held residencies at the Stadler Center for Poetry, the Folger Shakespeare Library, Hedgebrook, Jentel, and elsewhere. Her work has appeared in places like Ecotone, Guernica, McSweeneys Quarterly Concern, Electric Literature, storySouth, and LitHub. She lives in the Blue Ridge Mountains and in Moscow, Idaho.
Celebrated Southern author George Singleton delivers a new collection of short fiction, brilliant and absurd, for fans of George Saunders and Tom Franklin.
A restaurant owner runs into trouble when his wife starts a well-intentioned, poorly named rooster rescue. A boy navigates his parents’ split between a stretched phone cord and a flooded septic tank. A drunk sequestered in the middle of nowhere wakes up to find a tractor parked in his driveway. And in a big Cadillac, a grandfather and a grandson and a wayward dog hit the road, searching for a life not downloadable, nor measured in bandwidth.
Loosely linked by characters and themes, The Curious Lives of Nonprofit Martyrs follows shysters and schemers, film buffs and future ornithologists, unlikely do-gooders, and the men who make up Veterans Against Guns in North America, all doing the best they can with what they possess in smarts and cunning. With Singleton’s signature comic flair, these stories peer through the peepholes of small-town South Carolina into the lives of everyday martyrs—prodigal sons, wayward fathers, and all those who are a little of each.
About the Author
George Singleton has published nine collections of stories, two novels, and a book of writing advice. Over 200 of his stories have appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, Story, One Story, Playboy, the Georgia Review, Zoetrope, Southern Review, Agni, Virginia Quarterly Review, and elsewhere. He’s received a Pushcart and a Guggenheim. The Curious Lives of Non- Profit Martyrs, published with Dzanc Books, is his latest collection of short stories. His first collection of essays, Asides, will be published by EastOver Press in November of 2023. A member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers, he lives in South Carolina.