“Finding my birth parents seemed as insurmountable as knowing where humanity came from,” says author Valerie Naiman. After multiple DNA tests, she continues, “I turned to psychics and detectives. Wading through a muck of secrets, lies and falsified documents, I finally found my mother when she was 94 years old.”
The book gives the educator somewhere to put thoughts and ideas he’s typically unable to express in the context of a music theory course.
The Asheville-based author discusses the long journey to his second novel.
Woman of color inducted into Daughters of the American Revolution, Brew and View back on the market, Frozen live on stage, new book about labyrinths and more!
The writer and educator talks new projects and the city’s literary scene.
If you’re unfamiliar with the story about the Battle of Blair Mountain — the largest labor uprising in American history that resulted in over one million rounds fired as well as bombs dropped on Logan County, West Virginia — well, you’re probably not alone. But author Taylor Brown hopes to change that with his latest novel.
Tessa Fontaine’s debut novel, The Red Grove, asks the question: What would life be like for women if they never had to worry about violence?
“Violence spins in vicious cycles, and if you want to fully understand why these events in Morganton occurred, then you have to examine root causes that predate 1927,” says author and historian Kevin W. Young.
This year’s competition asked writers to draft an original, previously unpublished piece on the theme of our shared humanity.
The former journalist discusses the challenges of shifting to writing novels.
The monthly events run April-August and feature Adama Dembele, Ann Miller Woodford, DeWayne Barton, Marsha Almodovar and Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle.
The Asheville-based author’s “Hinterkaifeck” delves into the still-unsolved 1922 murder of the Gruber family in rural Bavaria.
Poet Nicole Farmer describes her father as a true chameleon. “He went from the mean streets of Chicago to being a golden gloves boxer, studying acting with Lee Strasberg, appearing on Broadway and years being a college history professor before he made his bold criminal move to raise money he needed to open his own honky-tonk.”
One of the challenges in writing about trauma, says Asheville-based author Rachel M. Hanson, is that sometimes trauma is used as a narrative hook or way to build suspense. Her approach is to describe the traumatic event or situation right away, “so it’s not used as a teaser. What I’m interested in is the aftermath.”
Local historian and archivist Katherine Cutshall discusses the parallels between Thomas Wolfe’s 1923 play, Welcome to Our City, and modern-day Asheville.
Pleasure, guilt, goodness, regret, confusion, self-respect and motherhood are among the many topics local poet and essayist Brit Washburn explores in her recently published collection of essays, “Homing In: Attempts on a Life of Poetry and Purpose.”
“I think there’s a sense from those newer to the form that poetry is something to be ‘solved’— that there’s a hidden meaning to a poem that requires the reader to find a clue or key and it unlocks,” says local poet Brandon Amico. “It’s hard to say where that sense comes from, but almost every young person seems to be taught that.
To celebrate WNC’s 2023 literary accomplishments, Xpress reached out to writers Mildred Barya, Clint Bowman, Michael Hettich, Meagen Lucas and Brit Washburn. All five participants had new publications come out this year.
We return with the latest iteration of “Look Homeward,” a recurring feature exploring the life, work and impact of Asheville author Thomas Wolfe on our area’s local writers, educators, historians and creatives.
A doll show at The Odd. Plus, whirling dervishes at Warren Wilson; the return of Swannanoa Winterfest; and more.
“How do we bring literature to the spaces where people already are?” asks Jacqui Castle, an author and Lit Local Mini Bookshops.
