DJ’s Pickles celebrates National Pickle Day. Plus: Iron and Oak Brisket Co. continues to craft its menu; local shops offer Thanksgiving takeout; and plenty more.

DJ’s Pickles celebrates National Pickle Day. Plus: Iron and Oak Brisket Co. continues to craft its menu; local shops offer Thanksgiving takeout; and plenty more.
Spicy soups, baked apples, buckwheat pancakes and cheesy dips are some of the recipes Asheville chefs and cookbook authors lean into as cold weather approaches.
Unlike many of her readers who are currently adhering to “stay home, stay safe” mandates, the characters in Lee Smith’s latest work are unbound — they socialize, carry out illicit love affairs, spy on neighbors, find themselves institutionalized and chain-smoke (with the windows up) inside a silvery-gray fishtailed Cadillac.
In WNC, say bookstore owners, size doesn’t matter so much as a deep well of literary history and residents and visitors who simply love to read.
Family counselors Dayna and Jim Guido will be joined by their son, Lucio, for a book celebration and signing event at Malaprop’s Bookstore and Cafe at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 21. Developing The Parental Toolbox turned into a family project that’s yielding a website, podcast, e-book and audiobook in addition to the print edition.
Passenger numbers increased by 18.6 percent compared to 2017, assisted by new nonstop routes to destinations such as Ft. Lauderdale, Orlando and Tampa, Fla. A recent economic impact study found that the airport contributes nearly $1.5 billion per year to the local economy.
Isis Music Hall will be the setting for the Asheville circle, featuring Amanda Anne Platt, Tyler Ramsey, Shannon Whitworth and several others including Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen.
As Asheville’s ever-increasing popularity has piqued the interest of big hotel chains and other corporate enterprises, it’s also triggered fears of homogenization and loss of essential character, raising the question: Can Asheville stay weird?
As it happens, the author has some things in common with the historic figures whose story she tells. Like Vanderbilt, Kiernan was born in New York City, and like the scion and his wife, Edith, Kiernan traveled widely (including a stint in Italy reporting on soccer for ESPN) before settling in Asheville.
The downtown shop’s first cookbook features eight chapters of recipes both savory and sweet.
Memories provide the foundation for Katz’s current “music and conversation” tour, which includes a Thursday, June 22, date at The Orange Peel. The evening before, Katz will give a reading at Malaprop’s.
On Saturday, June 3, Malaprop’s Bookstore and Cafe will host the official book launch of Aiyanna Sezak-Blatt debut work of creative nonfiction, “A Tangled Tree: My Father’s Path to Immortality.”
A break from the field, followed by a return to Africa, set Anderson to work on the story that eventually became City of Saints and Thieves. Working out of Kenya, she thought about writing a novel set in Nairobi that dramatized the experiences that drove refugees there from the Congo.
Poet and novelist Lidija Dimkovska presents the English translation of her award-winning book A Spare Life at Malaprop’s on Wednesday, Oct. 12.
Price’s free reading takes place at Malaprop’s Bookstore and Café on Tuesday, Aug. 16.
Tripp presents her fictionalized biography of Georgia O’Keeffe at Malaprop’s on Tuesday, June 14.
The After Party — which Disclafani will present at Malaprop’s on Wednesday, June 8 — was inspired by the River Oaks community, a wealthy neighborhood in Houston.
Reed is a highly successful author of young adult novels. On Wednesday, May 11, she’ll celebrate the release of Unforgivable — her seventh novel in as many years — with an event at Malaprop’s.
About a dozen authors will respond to a single writing prompt that’s loosely connected to House Bill 2 to raise money to undo the legislation. This first iteration of Malaprop’s Bookstore and Cafe’s new Authors for Action series takes place at Asheville Community Theatre on Wednesday, May 18.
As part of Children’s Book Week at Malaprop’s Bookstore and Café, Fischer will read her entire new work, which is filled with friendly and vibrant illustrations by Laura Wood, on Thursday, May 5.
Fred Chappell will read from his new fantasy book at Malaprop’s on Friday, April 15. A tour in support of Record Store of the Mind, with accompaniment by local musicians at each stop, brings Rosenthal to Downtown Books and News on Thursday, April 14.