Events Calendar
Explore family friendly events, theatres, galleries, concerts, nightlife, things to do, and more in the Greenville, SC and Upstate areas.
The 2023 Hub City Hog Fest, a barbecue contest to benefit Mobile Meals of Spartanburg, will take place on March 31 and April 1. The City of Spartanburg will block off several roads downtown around Morgan Square to accommodate the dozens of cook teams that will compete in this annual BBQ competition.
On Friday, March 31, entrance into the event from noon to 5 p.m. is FREE. After 5 p.m., wristbands must be purchased for $5 each. On Saturday, April 1, from noon to 9 p.m., $5 wristbands must be purchased. Children 10 and under are admitted free. There will be chicken wing samples from the competition teams available from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Friday evening. The samples of the competition teams’ barbecue and ribs are ONLY AVAILABLE from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
Vendors will be on site selling BBQ all weekend. Hog Bucks must be used to purchase food from vendors and to sample BBQ from competition teams (while supplies last).
IT’S NOT JUST A COMPETITION — IT’S A GREAT CAUSE!
We are thrilled that you are excited about the Hub City Hog Fest, a barbecue contest to benefit MOBILE MEALS OF SPARTANBURG, S.C. All proceeds from this event benefit Mobile Meals.
Since the the Hub City Hog Fest first started filling Downtown Spartanburg with the sweet, smoky smell of barbecue in 2013, it has raised more than $400,000 for Mobile Meals, and we hope to continue for many years to come. Please come out and not only have a lot of fun, but join with us in supporting this great organization and helping our community!
Join Pastry Chef Leslie on Sunday, April 2nd at 2:00 pm for a baking class!
If you’ve had anything bread-based from Camilla Kitchen, you know the magic that is Pastry Chef Leslie’s baking. Now she wants to share that with all of you! This will be an intimate class held in the Gallery (4th floor) of M. Judson for ten people, where you’ll prepare your bread from start to almost finish. While you’ll bake your cake at home (and get all those good smells), you’ll still get to end the baking class with a tasting. What a lovely way to spend a Sunday!
Your ticket covers the cost of ingredients and instruction, with the option to add on the featured cookbook.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Finalist for the IACP Cookbook Award in Baking and the James Beard Foundation Book Award in Baking and Desserts
Named a Best Cookbook of the Year by Bon Appétit, NPR, Washington Post, Epicurious, WBUR Here & Now, and Five Books
Named a Best Cookbook of the Spring by Eater, Epicurious, and Robb Report
The key to better, healthier baked goods is in the grain. Barley, buckwheat, corn, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, and wheat will unlock flavors and textures as vast as the historic lineages of these ancient crops.
As the head baker and owner of a beloved Los Angeles bakery, Roxana Jullapat knows the difference local, sustainable flour can make: brown rice flour lightens up a cake, rustic rye adds unexpected chewiness to a bagel, and ground toasted oats enrich doughnuts. Her bakery, Friends & Family, works with dedicated farmers and millers around the country to source and incorporate the eight mother grains in every sweet, bread, or salad on the menu. In her debut cookbook, Roxana shares her greatest hits, over 90 recipes for reinventing your favorite cakes, cookies, pies, breads, and more.
Her chocolate chip cookie recipe can be made with any of the eight mother grains, each flour yielding a distinct snap, crunch, or chew. Her mouthwatering buckwheat pancake can reinvent itself with grainier cornmeal. One-bowl recipes such as Barley Pumpkin Bread and Spelt Blueberry Muffins will yield fast rewards, while her Cardamom Buns and Halvah Croissants are expertly laid out to grow a home baker’s skills. Recipes are organized by grain to ensure you get the most out of every purchase.
Roxana even includes savory recipes for whole grain salads made with sorghum, Kamut or freekeh, or easy warm dishes such as Farro alla Pilota, Toasted Barley Soup, or Gallo Pinto which pays homage to her Costa Rican upbringing. Sunny step-by-step photos, a sourcing guide, storage tips, and notes on each grain’s history round out this comprehensive cookbook.
Perfect for beginner bakers and pastry pros alike, Mother Grains proves that whole grains are the secret to making any recipe so much more than the sum of its parts.
ABOUT THE BREAD
Whole-grain rye flour adds a nice rusticity to this focaccia bread, which is light, fluffy, and chewy. To truly appreciate its flavor, I garnish simply with olive oil, sea salt, and cracked black pepper. If I happen to have a special ingredient on hand, like marash pepper or fresh summer savory, I may sprinkle some on top. But for the most part, it’s all about the dough.
Like most bread recipes in this book, focaccia is prepared over 2 days. Most of the work is done on day one, leaving just the baking step for day two. The dough is made with poolish, a loose pre-fermented dough that adds complexity of flavor and improved texture. Whole grains absorb more water than refined flour, so resist adding extra flour even if the hydration seems high and your dough feels sticky. This focaccia is all about the grains, but there’s a good amount of sifted bread flour to break up the whole grains’ density and ensure the airy crumb focaccia is known for.
While many of the breads in this book keep for up to a week, this rye focaccia must be enjoyed the day that it’s baked. Leftovers can be turned into croutons or bread crumbs.
The focaccia should rest in the refrigerator overnight. This cold period slows down the fermentation while deepening the flavor. Follow the Prep and Baking Schedule to make the recipe just in time to have fresh focaccia for a weekend luncheon.
Join us for Empower Hour, a one-hour program and facility tour where you will experience firsthand the YWCA’s work to bridge gaps in earning power, education, health & wellness and access to childcare.
Empower Hours take place twice a month on the first and third Tuesday at 11:30 am.
Lunch is served as part of our Empower Hour, so reservations are required.
To make a reservation: contact Elizabeth Alvandi, Advancement Assistant, at (828) 254-7206 ext. 103 or [email protected]
Calling all teachers for a special night out! With a teacher ID you’ll get a free glass of our house bubbles or beer and receive a 15% discount on any purchase! We’ll also be doing a few extra special giveaways because we love you and you deserve it.
*discount does not apply to events, book clubs, alcohol, or catering
Please join us for Lunch + Lit with Jennifer Robson to celebrate the launch of Coronation Year! Jennifer 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
It is Coronation Year, 1953, and a new queen is about to be crowned. The people of London are in a mood to celebrate, none more so than the residents of the Blue Lion hotel.
Edie Howard, owner and operator of the floundering Blue Lion, has found the miracle she needs: on Coronation Day, Queen Elizabeth in her gold coach will pass by the hotel’s front door, allowing Edie to charge a fortune for rooms and, barring disaster, save her beloved home from financial ruin. Edie’s luck might just be turning, all thanks to a queen she is unlikely ever to meet.
Stella Donati, a young Italian photographer and Holocaust survivor, has come to live at the Blue Lion while she takes up a coveted position at Picture Weekly magazine. London in celebration mode feels like a different world to her. As she learns the ins and outs of her new profession, Stella discovers a purpose and direction that honor her past and bring hope for her future.
James Geddes, a war hero and gifted artist, has struggled to make his mark in a world that disdains his Indian ancestry. At the Blue Lion, though, he is made to feel welcome and worthy. Yet even as his friendship with Edie deepens, he begins to suspect that something is badly amiss at his new home.
When anonymous threats focused on Coronation Day, the Blue Lion, and even the queen herself disrupt their mood of happy optimism, Edie and her friends must race to uncover the truth, save their home, and expose those who seek to erase the joy and promise of Coronation Year.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
An academic by background, a former editor by profession, and a lifelong history nerd, Jennifer is the author of seven novels set during and after the two world wars: Somewhere in France, After the War is Over, Moonlight Over Paris, Goodnight from London, The Gown, Our Darkest Night, and Coronation Year. She was also a contributor to the acclaimed anthology Fall of Poppies: Stories of Love and the Great War.
Jennifer was born and raised in Peterborough, Ontario. She studied French literature and Modern History as an undergraduate at King’s University College at Western University, then attended Saint Antony’s College at the University of Oxford, where she obtained my doctorate in British economic and social history. While at Oxford she was a Commonwealth Scholar and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow.
Jennifer lives in Toronto, Canada, with her husband and children, and shares her home office with Bonnie the puppy and her feline companions Sam and Mika.
Join us for an evening of cocktails and conversation with New York Times bestselling author and all-around charming woman Sally Hepworth. Sally is coming all the way from Australia (!!!) to share her new thriller, The Soulmate, a twisty mystery of a marriage on the rocks.
Your ticket includes admission, a cocktail in the spirit of the story, and a copy of the book, as well as an after-hours bookstore evening with Sally.
THE BOOK:
There’s a cottage on a cliff. Gabe and Pippa’s dream home in a sleepy coastal town. But their perfect house hides something sinister. The tall cliffs have become a popular spot for people to end their lives. Night after night Gabe comes to their rescue, literally talking them off the ledge. Until he doesn’t.
When Pippa discovers Gabe knew the victim, the questions spiral…Did the victim jump? Was she pushed?
And would Gabe, the love of Pippa’s life, her soulmate…lie? As the perfect facade of their marriage begins to crack, the deepest and darkest secrets begin to unravel.
THE AUTHOR:
Sally Hepworth has lived around the world, spending extended periods in Singapore, the United Kingdom, and Canada. She is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels, most recently The Soulmate. Her novel, The Mother-In-Law (2019), has been optioned for a TV series by Hollywood actress and producer, Amy Poehler. Sally now lives in Melbourne with her husband, three children, and one adorable dog.
THE PRAISE:
“The latest twisty pageturner from the brilliant Sally Hepworth. Masterfully designed to keep readers on the edge of their seats and wanting more, The Soulmate examines love and loyalty, and how far we’re willing to go for the sake of family. I devoured this book!” -Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of Local Woman Missing
“[A] twisty psychological thriller… Fans of domestic suspense will be satisfied.” -Publishers Weekly
Join us Saturday, April 8th from 10 am to 12 noon for a Charity Bake Sale! All proceeds will go to supporting Serenity Place, so come stock up on fresh and delicious baked goods, just in time for the Easter holiday!
Serenity Place is a residential treatment center for pregnant women, young mothers and their preschool-age children. Each year, about 120 mothers and children find hope, healing and transformation in the program, with each family living on-site for about six months. Up to 48 women and children are in treatment at Serenity Place at any given time.
Items:
English Muffins: $13/dozen full size, $7/dozen minis
Potato Rolls: $13 dozen
Parmesan Crackers: $8/8 ounce bag
Sesame Honey Bun: $5.95 each
Hot Cross Buns: $13/half dozen
Coconut Pie: $28
Bakers Dozen Cookies (Sea Salt Chocolate Chip or Deep Dark Chocolate): $30
Learn how to make superior cocktails at home from one of the best bar programs in America. Alley Twenty Six Cocktail Syrups’ Joseph Gailes will be doing a cocktail demo at Swamp Rabbit Cafe and Grocery from 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, April 8. The Durham, N.C. company sells a line of award-winning, all-natural, clean label syrup cocktail syrups. Alley Twenty Six, a Durham, N.C. bar, was a 2022 finalist for the James Beard Foundations’s Oustanding Bar Program award. Info: alleytwentysixsyrups.com
11:30 am Check-In
12 pm Adult Easter Egg Hunt Begins
Bring your own bag or use one of ours.
Everything that fits in the bag is 25% off!***
If it fits, it qualifies.
**Must be 21+ to enter Easter Egg hunt
Join Chef Teryi Youngblood Musolf on Saturday, April 8th at 12 PM for a Cook The Book cooking class. We’ll be working from Vietnam: Morning to Midnight by Jerry Mai.
Here’s your chance to learn from one of the biggest culinary talents around as Chef Teryi gives us the inside scoop on a brand new or beloved cookbook, and the confidence to crack into it ourselves once we get home.
You’ll have the chance to work alongside Chef Teryi on two different recipes, asking questions and taking notes on techniques and tips of the trade. You’ll get to hear what makes a good recipe great, and get some background on what this cookbook is doing like no other. At the end of the class, you’ll have a glass of wine and sample what you’ve made, and maybe get to take home a little something special too. It’s an afternoon of delicious education.
Your ticket covers the cost of ingredients and instruction, with the option to add on the featured cookbook.
ABOUT THE BOOK
From dawn to dusk, enjoy Vietnamese cuisine at its best.
Join chef and author Jerry Mai as she shares the iconic dishes and street-food eats that are enjoyed throughout Vietnam, from morning to midnight.
As the sun rises, mornings start early in Vietnam: locals perch on plastic stools, slurping large bowls of beef pho, while others grab a crispy pork banh mi for breakfast on the go. Lunch might include delicious grilled meats piled high onto rice, or a cold noodle salad to help stay cool in the midday heat.
Weaving through the bustling streets, snacks are all around: rice paper rolls, savoury pancakes, sweet treats, drinks and more. At the end of the day, grilled or barbecued savoury snacks are the perfect foil for freshly brewed beer and are the best prelude to dinner – a communal feast of shared dishes.
This is how Vietnam eats, and you’ll find it all here in Vietnam: Morning to Midnight.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jerry Mai is a Vietnamese-Australian chef and restauranteur. She owns and runs two Melbourne restaurants offering different Vietnamese food experiences – the cool, casual street-food of Pho Nom, and Annam, Jerry’s pimped-up Vietnamese restaurant showcasing her mother’s recipes, all intertwined with her own unique food experiences.
Jerry visits Vietnam annually in order to to showcase new flavour experiments at both venues.
Bad Daddy’s is celebrating its 10th year in Magnolia Park with a grand reopening on Monday, April 10 with a ribbon-cutting ceremony with the Greenville Chamber of Commerce and a GIANT burger cutting at 11 am!
Join us for an evening of cocktails and conversation with New York Times bestselling author Megan Miranda, in honor of her brand new novel, The Only Survivors. We’ve let Megan keep us up reading past our bedtime since All The Missing Girls came out in 2016, and this new book promises to be the same kind of page turner: a bunch of friends who survived a horrifying accident in high school meet at the Outer Banks every year to commemorate their survival. Only this year, there’s one less of them, and everyone looks like a suspect.
Your ticket includes admission, a cocktail in the spirit of the story, and a copy of the book, as well as an after-hours bookstore evening with Megan.
BOOK SUMMARY
Seven hours in the past. Seven days in the present. Seven survivors remaining. Who would you save?
A decade ago, two vans filled with high school seniors on a school service trip crashed into a Tennessee ravine—a tragedy that claimed the lives of multiple classmates and teachers. The nine students who managed to escape the river that night were irrevocably changed. A year later, after one of the survivors dies by suicide on the anniversary of the crash, the rest of them make a pact: to come together each year to commemorate that terrible night.
To keep one another safe.
To hold one another accountable.
Or both.
Their annual meeting place, a house on the Outer Banks, has long been a refuge. But by the tenth anniversary, Cassidy Bent has worked to distance herself from the tragedy, and from the other survivors. She’s changed her mobile number. She’s blocked the others’ email addresses. This year, she is determined to finally break ties once and for all. But on the day of the reunion, she receives a text with an obituary attached: another survivor is gone. Now they are seven—and Cassidy finds herself hurling back toward the group, wild with grief—and suspicion.
Almost immediately, something feels off this year. Cassidy is the first to notice when Amaya, annual organizer, slips away, overwhelmed. This wouldn’t raise alarm except for the impending storm. Suddenly, they’re facing the threat of closed roads and surging waters…again. Then Amaya stops responding to her phone. After all they’ve been through, she wouldn’t willfully make them worry. Would she?
And—as they promised long ago—each survivor will do whatever he or she can do to save one another. Won’t they?
A propulsive and chilling locked-box mystery filled with the dazzling hairpin twists that are the author’s signature, The Only Survivors is New York Times-bestselling author Megan Miranda’s best novel yet.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Megan Miranda is the New York Times bestselling author of seven novels of psychological suspense and mystery, include the Reese Witherspoon Book Club pick, The Last House Guest. She’s also the author of seven novels for young adults. She grew up in New Jersey, graduated from MIT, and lives in North Carolina with her husband and two children.
REVIEWS
“In All the Missing Girls Megan Miranda leads readers back through the past of a small southern town, enfolding them in a slow, tense nightmare of suspicion, menace, and tangled motives. A twisty, compulsive read–I loved it.” — Ruth Ware, author of In A Dark Dark Wood.
“Sleepwalking is creepy. You’re asleep, but you’re walking through the night—like the living dead. I knew when I started The Girl from Widow Hills I was in for some shivers. But I had no idea the terrors that were in store.”—R. L. Stine, bestselling author of Goosebumps and Fear Street
Gather with your community for a FREE tasty meal, lessons on healthy eating and information on Double Up Food Bucks (a new program through SNAP)! Community Dinners are held on the second Wednesday of each month from 6 – 7:30 pm. FREE childcare provided.
Seating is limited. Reserve your seat online.
For more information, contact Leah Berger-Singer, Preventive Health Coordinator at (828) 254-7206 ext. 212 or [email protected]
Good company, great food, and an even better cause…
While there is no better excuse to gather as a community than to break bread and enjoy a great meal, the true reason we are all here is for the non-profit organization IDefine, Inc.
IDefine is a non-profit organization that was created to help families and children with the rare genetic disorder, Kleefstra Syndrome. With a commitment to identifying life-changing treatments and cures for those with intellectual disabilities stemming from rare genetic disorders, IDefine also serves as a community and resource for families all over.
As the festival beneficiary, last year’s inaugural event was able to raise over $40,000, help fund a specialized clinic at the Boston Children’s Hospital and support the North American Family Conference that brought together over 75 families impacted by Kleefstra Syndrome.
With the ultimate goal of finding a cure, the support of Southern Roots is helping further the research of Kleefstra Syndrome and new technologies that may provide some answers for these sweet children and their families.
Let’s all join together at Trailblazer Park and help push IDefine even closer to finding a cure! We’ll see you there in April!
Join instructor Rachel Lavin for a healthy pizza cooking class! In this workshop, students will learn about healthy alternatives for making pizza at home while trying new foods sourced by local farmers and Upstate businesses. Each participant will receive their own personal pizza to enjoy in the TCMU Café or take home. Museum admission ($12/person) is included in the cost of the workshop.
You’d never be able to eat at 13 restaurants in one night without needing stretchy pants and a ride home, but, on Sunday, April 16, that’s exactly what we are going to do! Join us for the Loaves & Fishes Taste of the Upstate: 2023 Food Rescue Challenge. This year’s challenge will be held Sunday, April 16th, from 11:30am – 2pm at the Bon Secours Wellness Arena Patio.
Each dish will feature a commonly recued food as an ingredient to bring awareness to food waste. Nikko Cagalanan (cah-GAL-uh-nan), a Charleston champion from Food Network TV’s Chopped, will be the guest judge.
Taste of the Upstate (TOU) will feature 10 of Greenville’s tastiest restaurants, each sharing their finest dishes with a panel of regional food experts and local TOU ticketholders. 2023 will feature a panel of local judges including local chef and former winner of Taste of the Upstate awards, Tony Keely, and Cagalanan.
The unlimited eats, live music, silent auctions and libations make this fund raising event unforgettable. Tickets are $50 each and include all-you-can-eat tastings from all restaurants. Beer and wine will be available for purchase.
Join Pastry Chef Leslie on Sunday, April 16th at 2:00 pm for a baking class!
If you’ve had anything bread-based from Camilla Kitchen, you know the magic that is Pastry Chef Leslie’s baking. Now she wants to share that with all of you! This will be an intimate class held in the Gallery (4th floor) of M. Judson for ten people, where you’ll prepare your bread from start to almost finish. While you’ll bake your cake at home (and get all those good smells), you’ll still get to end the baking class with a tasting. What a lovely way to spend a Sunday!
Your ticket covers the cost of ingredients and instruction, with the option to add on the featured cookbook.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Finalist for the IACP Cookbook Award in Baking and the James Beard Foundation Book Award in Baking and Desserts
Named a Best Cookbook of the Year by Bon Appétit, NPR, Washington Post, Epicurious, WBUR Here & Now, and Five Books
Named a Best Cookbook of the Spring by Eater, Epicurious, and Robb ReportThe key to better, healthier baked goods is in the grain. Barley, buckwheat, corn, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, and wheat will unlock flavors and textures as vast as the historic lineages of these ancient crops.
As the head baker and owner of a beloved Los Angeles bakery, Roxana Jullapat knows the difference local, sustainable flour can make: brown rice flour lightens up a cake, rustic rye adds unexpected chewiness to a bagel, and ground toasted oats enrich doughnuts. Her bakery, Friends & Family, works with dedicated farmers and millers around the country to source and incorporate the eight mother grains in every sweet, bread, or salad on the menu. In her debut cookbook, Roxana shares her greatest hits, over 90 recipes for reinventing your favorite cakes, cookies, pies, breads, and more.Her chocolate chip cookie recipe can be made with any of the eight mother grains, each flour yielding a distinct snap, crunch, or chew. Her mouthwatering buckwheat pancake can reinvent itself with grainier cornmeal. One-bowl recipes such as Barley Pumpkin Bread and Spelt Blueberry Muffins will yield fast rewards, while her Cardamom Buns and Halvah Croissants are expertly laid out to grow a home baker’s skills. Recipes are organized by grain to ensure you get the most out of every purchase.
Roxana even includes savory recipes for whole grain salads made with sorghum, Kamut or freekeh, or easy warm dishes such as Farro alla Pilota, Toasted Barley Soup, or Gallo Pinto which pays homage to her Costa Rican upbringing. Sunny step-by-step photos, a sourcing guide, storage tips, and notes on each grain’s history round out this comprehensive cookbook.
Perfect for beginner bakers and pastry pros alike, Mother Grains proves that whole grains are the secret to making any recipe so much more than the sum of its parts.
ABOUT THE BREAD
Whole-grain rye flour adds a nice rusticity to this focaccia bread, which is light, fluffy, and chewy. To truly appreciate its flavor, I garnish simply with olive oil, sea salt, and cracked black pepper. If I happen to have a special ingredient on hand, like marash pepper or fresh summer savory, I may sprinkle some on top. But for the most part, it’s all about the dough.
Like most bread recipes in this book, focaccia is prepared over 2 days. Most of the work is done on day one, leaving just the baking step for day two. The dough is made with poolish, a loose pre-fermented dough that adds complexity of flavor and improved texture. Whole grains absorb more water than refined flour, so resist adding extra flour even if the hydration seems high and your dough feels sticky. This focaccia is all about the grains, but there’s a good amount of sifted bread flour to break up the whole grains’ density and ensure the airy crumb focaccia is known for.
While many of the breads in this book keep for up to a week, this rye focaccia must be enjoyed the day that it’s baked. Leftovers can be turned into croutons or bread crumbs.
The focaccia should rest in the refrigerator overnight. This cold period slows down the fermentation while deepening the flavor. Follow the Prep and Baking Schedule to make the recipe just in time to have fresh focaccia for a weekend luncheon.
Please join us to celebrate the launch of The House is on Fire with Rachel Beanland. A riveting reimagining of one of early America’s deadliest tragedies, the Richmond Theater Fire of 1811, The House is on Fire is told from the perspectives of four characters whose lives are irrevocably altered in the aftermath of the inferno.
Rachel 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
Richmond, Virginia 1811. It’s the height of the winter social season, the General Assembly is in session, and many of Virginia’s gentleman planters, along with their wives and children, have made the long and arduous journey to the capital in hopes of whiling away the darkest days of the year. At the city’s only theater, the Charleston-based Placide & Green Company puts on two plays a night to meet the demand of a populace that’s done looking for enlightenment at the front of a church.
On the night after Christmas, the theater is packed with more than six hundred holiday revelers. In the third-floor boxes, sits newly-widowed Sally Henry Campbell, who is glad for any opportunity to relive the happy times she shared with her husband. One floor away, in the colored gallery, Cecily Patterson doesn’t give a whit about the play but is grateful for a four-hour reprieve from a life that has recently gone from bad to worse. Backstage, young stagehand Jack Gibson hopes that, if he can impress the theater’s managers, he’ll be offered a permanent job with the company. And on the other side of town, blacksmith Gilbert Hunt dreams of one day being able to bring his wife to the theater, but he’ll have to buy her freedom first.
When the theater goes up in flames in the middle of the performance, Sally, Cecily, Jack, and Gilbert make a series of split-second decisions that will not only affect their own lives but those of countless others. And in the days following the fire, as news of the disaster spreads across the United States, the paths of these four people will become forever intertwined.
Based on the true story of Richmond’s theater fire, The House Is On Fire offers proof that sometimes, in the midst of great tragedy, we are offered our most precious—and fleeting—chances at redemption.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Rachel Beanland is the author of the forthcoming novel, The House Is On Fire, which will be published by Simon & Schuster in April 2023. Her debut novel, Florence Adler Swims Forever, was selected as a book club pick by Barnes & Noble, a featured debut by Amazon, an Indie Next pick by the American Booksellers Association, and one of the best books of 2020 by USA Today. It was also named a New York Times Editors’ Choice and was recognized with the 2020 National Jewish Book Award for Debut Fiction (Greenberg Prize). To date, it has been published or is forthcoming in nine countries.
Rachel’s writing has also appeared in Lit Hub, Business Insider, Creative Nonfiction, and Broad Street, among other places. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina and earned her MFA in creative writing from Virginia Commonwealth University. Rachel lives in Richmond, Virginia with her family.
REVIEWS
“Fully realized characters and gripping prose makes for an excellent, riveting novel that is highly recommended.” —Booklist, STARRED review
“Powerful… Beanland enlivens the smart and suspenseful narrative with fully developed protagonists that illuminate the community’s response to mass catastrophe. Readers will relish this.” —Publishers Weekly, STARRED review
“Propulsive… full of historical detail and full-blooded characters” —Shelf Awareness
“Propulsive. Rachel Beanland’s The House Is On Fire pulls you into a major moment in American history via the lives of four vividly drawn characters.”—Farah Ali, author of People Want to Live
“I could not turn the pages fast enough! An absolutely propulsive feat of storytelling! The House is On Fire reveals the little-known events of an American tragedy of Titanic proportion. In heart-stopping, intimate detail Beanland transports us directly into the souls of a truly diverse cast of Virginians whose varied means of survival during the theater fire and in its deftly-told aftermath, not only paint a rich portrait of 1800s America, but also hold up a timeless mirror to the racial disparity revealed by unexpected loss – and the means through which we must all come together to rebuild. Brava!”—Afia Atakora, author of Conjure Women
Join us for Empower Hour, a one-hour program and facility tour where you will experience firsthand the YWCA’s work to bridge gaps in earning power, education, health & wellness and access to childcare.
Empower Hours take place twice a month on the first and third Tuesday at 11:30 am.
Lunch is served as part of our Empower Hour, so reservations are required.
To make a reservation: contact Elizabeth Alvandi, Advancement Assistant, at (828) 254-7206 ext. 103 or [email protected]