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Upcoming events and things to do in Asheville, NC. Below is a list of events for festivals, concerts, art exhibitions, group meetups and more.
Interested in adding an event to our calendar? Please click the green “Post Your Event” button below.
If you decide to attend and to purchase books, we ask that you purchase from Malaprop’s. When you do this you make it possible for us to continue hosting author events and you keep more dollars in our community. You may also support our work by purchasing a gift card or making a donation of any amount below. Thank you!
Outsiders are always given a choice: the Forest or the lake. Either way, they’re never heard from again.
Leelo has spent her entire life on Endla, coexisting with the bloodthirsty Forest and respecting the poisonous lake that protects her island from outsiders who seek to destroy it. But as much as Leelo cares for her community, she struggles to accept that her younger brother will be exiled by his next birthday, unless he gains the magic of enchanted song so vital to Endla.
When Leelo sees a young outsider on the verge of drowning in the lake, she knows exactly what she’s supposed to do. But in a moment that will change everything, Leelo betrays her family, her best friend, and Endla by making an unthinkable choice.
Discovery could lead to devastating consequences for both Leelo and the outsider, Jaren, but as they grow closer, Leelo realizes that not all danger comes from beyond the lake–and they can only survive if Leelo is willing to question the very fabric of her society, her people, and herself.
Mara Rutherford began her writing career as a journalist but quickly discovered she far preferred fantasy to reality. Originally from California, Mara has since lived all over the world along with her Marine-turned-diplomat husband. A triplet born on Leap Day, Mara holds a Master’s degree in Cultural Studies from the University of London.
Kristin Dwyer is the author of SOME MISTAKES WERE MADE. She grew up under the California sun and still prays every day for a cloudy sky. When she’s not writing books about people kissing Kristin works as a part-time hair model but is full-time TSA PRECHECK. One time a credible news outlet asked for her opinion on K-pop (it was the best day of her life). Please do not talk to her about your fandom, she will try to join.
Isabel Ibañez is the author of Woven in Moonlight, Together We Burn, and Written in Starlight, a finalist for the William C. Morris Award, and is listed among Time Magazine’s 100 Best Fantasy Books Of All Time. She was born in Boca Raton, Florida, and is the proud daughter of two Bolivian immigrants. Isabel has a profound appreciation for history and traveling and loves hosting family and friends around the dinner table. She currently lives in Asheville, North Carolina, with her husband, their adorable dog, and a serious collection of books. Say hi on social media!
Rebecca Ross writes fantasy novels for teens and adults. She lives in the Appalachian foothills of Northeast Georgia with her husband, their lively Australian Shepherd, and an endless pile of books. THE QUEEN’S RISING duology, SISTERS OF SWORD & SONG, and DREAMS LIE BENEATH are her titles for teen readers. A RIVER ENCHANTED and A FIRE ENDLESS are her bestselling novels for adults. When not writing, she can be found reading or in her garden, where she grows wildflowers and story ideas.
Punch Bucket Lit, West Asheville’s reading series at Cellarest Beer Project is back for more live readings in our taproom featuring authors Alysia Li Ying Sawchyn and Emily Paige Wilson. While the authors vary month-to-month you can always count on inspiring poetry, moving essays and heartfelt original literary works read aloud in the contemplative company of other lit nerds and creative types alike. We’ll booze, we’ll listen, we’ll feel feelings and we’ll see the world through a different lens for an evening.
Hosted by the Asheville Art Museum, this monthly discussion is a place to exchange ideas about readings that relate to artworks and the art world and to learn from and about each other. Meetings will take place in person at the Art Museum on the second Wednesday of the month at noon. Please click here and scroll to the current month and year to see what the club is reading this month.
registration is not required
Free for Museum Members or included with Museum admission; registration is not required
The author of this memoir, Winfred Rembert, grew up as a field hand on a Georgia plantation. He embraced the Civil Rights Movement, endured political violence, survived a lynching, and spent seven years in prison on a chain gang. Years later, seeking a fresh start at age 52, Rembert discovered his gift and vision as an artist, and using the leather tooling skills he learned in prison, started etching and painting scenes from his youth.
Discussion Bound is a monthly book club where guests may exchange ideas about readings that relate to artworks and the art world, and to learn from and about each other. Books discussed are available at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café for a 10 percent discount (malaprops.com). To add your name to our Discussion Bound mailing list, call 828.253.3227 x133.
Some of our greatest art has come in response to the pain of this world: war, accident, crime and punishment, physical and mental illness, racial and class-based inequities. As Asheville resident Nancy Sehested has written, “The deeply human questions of forgiveness, redemption, and mercy emerge from the ruins of broken lives…Pain is not the last word.”
On eight evenings from September to December, the Wilma Dykeman Legacy and the West Asheville Library will celebrate four memoirs of resilience and hope from the mountains of Western North Carolina. All events are free and will be at the West Asheville Library, except for the digital event on December 8.
About the Wilma Dykeman Legacy
The Wilma Dykeman Legacy is a tax-exempt non-profit organization founded in 2012 to sustain and promote Wilma Dykeman’s values by sponsoring diverse workshops, events, and other programs. The core values of this extraordinary woman from Buncombe County included environmental integrity, social justice, and the power of the written and spoken word. For more information, visit www.wilmadykemanlegacy.org.
The Book for December is “The Matrix” by: Lauren Groff
Lauren Groff returns with her exhilarating first new novel since the groundbreaking Fates and Furies.
Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, 17-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease.
At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her: devotion to her sisters, and a conviction in her own divine visions. Marie, born the last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, is determined to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. But in a world that is shifting and corroding in frightening ways, one that can never reconcile itself with her existence, will the sheer force of Marie’s vision be bulwark enough?
Equally alive to the sacred and the profane, Matrix gathers currents of violence, sensuality, and religious ecstasy in a mesmerizing portrait of consuming passion, aberrant faith, and a woman that history moves both through and around. Lauren Groff’s new novel, her first since Fates and Furies, is a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/31/books/review/matrix-lauren-groff.html
The Book for December is “The Matrix” by: Lauren Groff
Lauren Groff returns with her exhilarating first new novel since the groundbreaking Fates and Furies.
Cast out of the royal court by Eleanor of Aquitaine, deemed too coarse and rough-hewn for marriage or courtly life, 17-year-old Marie de France is sent to England to be the new prioress of an impoverished abbey, its nuns on the brink of starvation and beset by disease.
At first taken aback by the severity of her new life, Marie finds focus and love in collective life with her singular and mercurial sisters. In this crucible, Marie steadily supplants her desire for family, for her homeland, for the passions of her youth with something new to her: devotion to her sisters, and a conviction in her own divine visions. Marie, born the last in a long line of women warriors and crusaders, is determined to chart a bold new course for the women she now leads and protects. But in a world that is shifting and corroding in frightening ways, one that can never reconcile itself with her existence, will the sheer force of Marie’s vision be bulwark enough?
Equally alive to the sacred and the profane, Matrix gathers currents of violence, sensuality, and religious ecstasy in a mesmerizing portrait of consuming passion, aberrant faith, and a woman that history moves both through and around. Lauren Groff’s new novel, her first since Fates and Furies, is a defiant and timely exploration of the raw power of female creativity in a corrupted world.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/31/books/review/matrix-lauren-groff.html
Please join us at The 2nd Act in Hendersonville, NC for our first monthly book club meeting that strives to read books that create a closer knit and more inclusive community! We will meet virtually and in person monthly to discuss a book, so read the book and then join in the discussion in person or online every third Thursday. All are welcome! At the end of each meeting we will vote on the next book! The virtual club meeting will be in Zoom format and will meet 2.5 hours after the in-person meeting (8:00pm EST). After the meeting there is live acoustic music so stay and enjoy the vibe with your new friends! Put us down on your calendar for every third Third Thursday!
The first book is going to be called Disability Visibility.
Synopsis from the back cover: One in five people in the United States lives with a disability. Some disabilities are visible, others less apparent—but all are underrepresented in media and popular culture. Now, just in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, activist Alice Wong brings together this urgent, galvanizing collection of contemporary essays by disabled people.
From Harriet McBryde Johnson’s account of her debate with Peter Singer over her own personhood to original pieces by authors like Keah Brown and Haben Girma; from blog posts, manifestos, and eulogies to Congressional testimonies, and beyond: this anthology gives a glimpse into the rich complexity of the disabled experience, highlighting the passions, talents, and everyday lives of this community. It invites readers to question their own understandings. It celebrates and documents disability culture in the now. It looks to the future and the past with hope and love. Preview:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51456746-disability-visibility
Message me for the Zoom link to the online meetup. Thanks!
This club meets in-person and virtually. If you are interested in attending, please email [email protected] for more info and instructions!
Join host and Malaprop’s bookseller Patricia Furnish to discuss a range of books across different periods of history. The club tackles challenging subjects, hence “NOTORIOUS.” Click here to see a full schedule of what the club is reading. Club attendees get 10% off the book at Malaprop’s!
The club meets at Malaprop’s on the 3rd Thursday of every month at 7:00 pm.
Let’s read The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow!
Camps are Mon-Thurs, December 19-23 and 26-29th from 9:00 am – 3:30 pm, with a daily and weekly sign-up option!
The age group for these camp sessions is 6-11-years-old (K-5th grade).
Sign up for Session 1 here: https://ashevillescience.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5af64a890dd5e292ce82d197b&id=8f3d934c4e&e=16408a818c
Daily rates start at $60 per participant/day and $225 per participant/week!
To learn more, contact [email protected].
This is a book club that intends to be a support for people with cognitive decline. The first book has an enormous amount of information and it would be great to discuss it with like minded individuals. The End of Alzheimer’s Program: The First Protocol to Enhance Cognition and Reverse Decline at Any Age by Bredesen MD. We will meet on the fourth Thursday of the month at The 2nd Act in Hendersonville at 5:30. I will also be hosting an online meetup at 8pm EST so message me if you would like the link to the Zoom meeting.
Romance Book Club is a space to celebrate love in literature. Whether it’s set in early 1800s London, a distant planet years into the future, a fantasy world of magic, or our own contemporary universe, we are here for the stories that end with a happily-ever-after (or at least a happily-for-now).
Meetings will take place at 7:00 PM ET on the last Tuesday of each month via Zoom. Please visit the Romance Bookclub page for the monthly selection, and email Samantha at [email protected] for the link to join.
The Foodie Book Club is a club about food writing. The club meets on the last Wednesday of every month at 7:00 PM. Click here for details and monthly picks!
Camps are Mon-Thurs, December 19-23 and 26-29th from 9:00 am – 3:30 pm, with a daily and weekly sign-up option!
The age group for these camp sessions is 6-11-years-old (K-5th grade).
Sign up for Session 2 here: https://ashevillescience.us10.list-manage.com/track/click?u=5af64a890dd5e292ce82d197b&id=dd3c976dc2&e=16408a818c
Daily rates start at $60 per participant/day and $225 per participant/week!
To learn more, contact [email protected].
Chat with other book lovers about this month’s book selection.
Interested in reading ahead? Here’s what we have coming up in the next few months!
– November- “Once Upon A River” Diane Setterfield
– December- “Dutch House” Ann Patchett
– January- “Mexican Gothic” Silvia Moreno-Garcia
– February- “The Rose Code” Kate Quinn
To reserve your copy of the book, visit buncombe.nccardinal.org or swing by the library to pick one up from the book clubs holds shelf.
To join the book club email [email protected] or call us at 250-4758.
Gelli printing is an easy, innovative way to create vibrant, one-of-a-kind monoprints. The results are striking, and all you need is a gelli plate, acrylic paint, and some kind of substrate (paper, canvas, etc.). In this fun, hands-on workshop, paper artist Kristen Grady will teach you everything you need to get started with this super versatile process.
Among other techniques, you’ll learn how to build multiple layers of design, create textures and an “old wall” look, and add stenciling and shimmer to your prints. Kristen will also teach you how to create two-sided prints, work with multiple prints at the same time, create a theme for your prints, use thick and thin paints in different ways, and find your color palette.
There will be plenty of time to practice each technique, and you’ll complete at least four, two-sided prints. You’ll also leave with plenty of ideas on how to use your finished prints, including incorporating them into junk journals, and how to care for and store your gelli plate, which will be yours to keep—a $25 value!
Do you have intentions to start making art, but for some reason aren’t? Or were you making stuff all the time, but now it’s become a chore to get into your studio? Whether you’re struggling to get going with your art or have fallen into a creative slump, this workshop is for you!
Join creativity coach and veteran instructor Robyn Crawford as she takes you on an exciting, 4-week artistic adventure that’s sure to get your creative juices flowing! In this 12-hour, highly interactive course, you’ll kickstart your creativity by watching interesting artistic techniques, solving challenging creativity-building puzzles, participating in stimulating cross-media art experiments, working through selected The Artist’s Way best practices, and doing fun, optional homePLAY assignments.
We’re excited to finally get to offer this popular course. Don’t put your art (and YOU!) on the back burner again. Register today and make 2023 your most inspired year yet!
Children’s literature gives the young and young at heart permission to connect in the natural world in ways that are engaging and easily understood. Join Adult & Continuing Education Specialist Ann Kast, a former elementary school teacher and children’s literature enthusiast, in a discussion of how Wait, Rest, Pause: Dormancy in Nature aptly shares the natural process of rest and speaks to the child in each of us.
parking fees apply 16.00 +
January is the perfect time to start keeping a “junk journal”: a hand-made book used to collect and store daily memories, mementos, photos, collages, inspiring quotes, or anything you want to remember. You can also use junk journals as art journals, a place for collage or daily gratitude lists, or to inspire a daily art practice in general. In this highly imaginative workshop, paper artist Kristen Grady will show you how to design a junk journal to fit your needs.
You’ll start by cutting and sizing an empty cereal box to create the cover for your journal. After strengthening and decorating your cover, you’ll learn how to turn your precious papers—including any gelli prints that you may have made in Kristen’s Introduction to Gelli Printing workshop—and actual “junk” mail into various types of pages (decorative, envelope, writing, etc.) until you fill your book. Next, Kristen will show you how to stitch your pages into the cover and then go over ways to fill in your journal as you go. You’ll be surprised at how full your book can become in just an afternoon! Finally, you’ll add decor, embellishments, and ephemera to finish your project.
You’ll leave the workshop with a beautiful, personalized keepsake that’s anything but junk! You’ll also have a newfound appreciation for the useful and beautiful creations you can make out of things that you used to throw away!
Performers: Get out of your head and inhabit your character!
In this workshop, acting coach, director and performer Jamie Knox will lead you through a series of exercises to:
– Make your work more physically dynamic
– Prepare for giving a memorable audition
– Approach a character from the outside in, to work quickly with new direction
– Talk yourself up…to yourself! Learn the art of getting into a good headspace and focusing on being a character, not acting
– Work on a specific monologue OR learn to work with any piece given to you
Sunday, January 15th, 2:30pm – 5:30pm
at The Magnetic Theatre
375 Depot St, Asheville NC 28801
About the instructor:
Jamie Knox juggles writing, directing, and acting in plays with running a yoga business and wrangling a four-year-old. She has been coaching characterization since 2008 and is a strong believer in being the character, not simply pretending to be the character. In this workshop expect to be challenged to get out of your head and into your body, finding more authenticity in your work.
Let’s read Slewfoot: A Tale of Bewitchery by Brom!
Please join us at The 2nd Act in Hendersonville, NC for our first monthly book club meeting that strives to read books that create a closer knit and more inclusive community! We will meet virtually and in person monthly to discuss a book, so read the book and then join in the discussion in person or online every third Thursday. All are welcome! At the end of each meeting we will vote on the next book! The virtual club meeting will be in Zoom format and will meet 2.5 hours after the in-person meeting (8:00pm EST). After the meeting there is live acoustic music so stay and enjoy the vibe with your new friends! Put us down on your calendar for every third Third Thursday!
The first book is going to be called Disability Visibility.
Synopsis from the back cover: One in five people in the United States lives with a disability. Some disabilities are visible, others less apparent—but all are underrepresented in media and popular culture. Now, just in time for the thirtieth anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, activist Alice Wong brings together this urgent, galvanizing collection of contemporary essays by disabled people.
From Harriet McBryde Johnson’s account of her debate with Peter Singer over her own personhood to original pieces by authors like Keah Brown and Haben Girma; from blog posts, manifestos, and eulogies to Congressional testimonies, and beyond: this anthology gives a glimpse into the rich complexity of the disabled experience, highlighting the passions, talents, and everyday lives of this community. It invites readers to question their own understandings. It celebrates and documents disability culture in the now. It looks to the future and the past with hope and love. Preview:https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/51456746-disability-visibility
Message me for the Zoom link to the online meetup. Thanks!
This is a hybrid event, meaning there is an option to attend virtually and a limited number of seats are available to attend the event in-store. The event is free but registration is required for both in-person and virtual attendance.
Please click here to register for the VIRTUAL event. The link required to attend will be emailed to registrants prior to the event.
Please click here to register for the IN-PERSON event. Note the important event details on the RSVP form.
This event includes a book signing. If you would like a signed book but can’t attend in person, use the order comments field when you order below to request a signed copy and tell us to whom the book should be personalized.
If you decide to attend and to purchase books, we ask that you purchase from Malaprop’s. When you do this you make it possible for us to continue hosting author events and you keep more dollars in our community. You may also support our work by purchasing a gift card or making a donation of any amount below. Thank you!
A beautiful guided journal with 365 days of thought-provoking quotes and prompts to help you reflect on the past, examine the present, and work towards a more resilient future.
Everyone yearns to become more resilient. We all experience setbacks and problems on an individual level, and the state of the world doesn’t provide overarching reassurance. But resilience is much more than the ability to bounce back from a single catastrophe. You need to work at it, to strengthen it as you would a muscle in your body.
The Resilience Journal starts you on this path with an initial self-assessment using fifteen statements such as “I cope well with change.” Then, through completing the wide range of daily interactive prompts and exercises, you will discover ways to not only cope with difficulties but grow stronger from them. At the end of the journal there’s another self-assessment quiz. Fill it out to see how much your self-knowledge, compassion, patience, and resilience has improved.
Sandra E. Johnson, LMSW, is a licensed clinical social worker who has been practicing for over thirty years. She is also an author, freelance editor, and conference speaker. She has taught meditation and other stress reduction techniques to individual patients, social workers, counselors, and therapists. She has written for the Washington Post and The State, South Carolina’s most widely read newspaper, for which she covered topics ranging from education reform to race relations. Johnson is the author of Standing on Holy Ground: A Triumph over Hate Crime in the Deep South; a novel, Flowers for the Living, which was nominated for a PEN/Faulkner Award; and The Mind-Body Peace Journal: 366 Mindful Prompts for Serenity and Clarity.
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Land of the Sky 101 is a community learning circle for those who are interested in an introduction to the history of Asheville, Buncombe County and Western North Carolina. A nine -part series of readings and discussions is modeled after the themes of the exhibit “An Incomplete History of Buncombe County” mounted in the BCSC reading room. From October 2022 through July 2023 (with a break in December) participants will explore the history of our region focusing on themes ranging from ancient history to the late 20th century revitalization of the Downtown area. Read Learn Discuss Registration is limited and required. Sessions for the 2022-2023 cohort will be held at 10:30 am on the third Saturday of each month at Pack Memorial Library. Sessions run from October 2022 until July 2023. Your registration will reserve your place for all nine sessions, and we hope participants will plan to attend each meeting. If you cannot attend a session, please let us know in advance so we may allow those on the waiting list to participate.
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Culley Holderfield discusses his debut novel, Hemlock Hollow, with fellow North Carolina writer Dale Neal, author of Appalachian Book of the Dead.
This is a hybrid event, meaning there is an option to attend virtually and a limited number of seats are available to attend the event in-store. The event is free but registration is required for both in-person and virtual attendance.
Please click here to register for the VIRTUAL event. The link required to attend will be emailed to registrants prior to the event.
Please click here to register for the IN-PERSON event. Note the important event details on the RSVP form.
This event includes a book signing. If you would like a signed book but can’t attend in person, use the order comments field when you order below to request a signed copy and tell us to whom the book should be personalized.
If you decide to attend and to purchase books, we ask that you purchase from Malaprop’s. When you do this you make it possible for us to continue hosting author events and you keep more dollars in our community. You may also support our work by purchasing a gift card or making a donation of any amount below. Thank you!
Hemlock Hollow
“Past and present, love and loss intertwine in a magical mountain hollow. Holderfield’s love of place shines in his sensitive descriptions while his storytelling enthralls the reader.” —Vicki Lane, author of And the Crows Took Their Eyes
Caroline McAlister, college professor and life-long skeptic, is reeling from the loss of her father and her marriage. Her once promising career has come to a standstill. When her father bequeaths the family cabin to her, it comes with a ghost who haunted her childhood. When she discovers a century-old journal in the attic, she awakens the voice of Carson Quinn. The journal reveals Carson’s love for the same hollow that enthralled Caroline growing up. A little sleuthing uncovers rumors that the kind, curious boy in the journal grew up to murder his brother. Caroline plunges into the project of exonerating Carson, only to find herself in the throes of a personal past she’s spent her life trying to avoid. Hemlock Hollow is about how we forever haunt the places we love and how they haunt us in return.
Culley Holderfield learned to love storytelling on the porch of a cabin in the mountains of North Carolina. After graduating from UNC-Chapel Hill, he ventured to South America, Africa, and Europe. When not writing or working in community development finance, he spends his time hiking, paddling, and pondering in the outdoors. His short stories and poetry have appeared in a variety of publications. Hemlock Hollow is his debut novel. He lives in Durham, NC.
Dale Neal is the author of the novel Kings of Coweetsee, forthcoming from Regal House Publishing in 2024. His previous novels, Appalachian Book of the Dead, The Half-Life of Home, and Cow Across America, are each set in the storied Blue Ridge Mountains. His short fiction and essays have appeared in Arts & Letters, Carolina Quarterly, Marlboro Review, and Crescent Review, among others. Previously, he was a prize-winning writer for the Asheville Citizen-Times. A graduate of the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College, he has been awarded fellowships to the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Hambidge Center, and the Knight Center for Specialized Journalism at the University of Maryland. He currently teaches fiction at the Lenoir-Rhyne University Graduate Center. A lifelong native of North Carolina, he now lives in Asheville.
Interested in joining a book club (or two) in the new year? This evening is for you!
This program will feature short presentations from representatives from a dozen local book clubs and some time to chat. Find the book club that best fits your interests and schedule.
Attend in-person at Pack Library or participate in an online viewing! No registration is required for the in-person session. To sign up for the online session, click here to register to receive the live stream link.
Featuring representatives from:
Asheville Art Museum
Buncombe County Public Libraries
Buncombe County Special Collections
Firestorm Bookstore & Cafe
Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe
North Carolina Arboretum
Thomas Wolfe House
Wilma Dykeman Legacy
and more!
Join writers and poets from across the country each month for a virtual writing workshop. A link will be added to their name when more details and sign-up information becomes available. These workshops are geared towards amateur writers, ages 16 and older recommended. Follow us on Facebook for notifications too.
This live streamed virtual event is free but registration is required. Please click here to register. The link required to attend will be emailed to registrants prior to the event.
If you decide to attend and to purchase books, we ask that you purchase from Malaprop’s. When you do this you make it possible for us to continue hosting author events and you keep more dollars in our community. You may also support our work by purchasing a gift card or making a donation of any amount below. Thank you!
Decent People
In the still-segregated town of West Mills, North Carolina in 1976, enigmatic siblings Marian, Marva, and Lazarus Harmon are found shot to death in their home. The people of West Mills – on both sides of the canal that serves as the town’s color line – become swept up in gossip and accusations that have them taking a deeper look at their neighbors and loved ones. The crime is the first reported murder in the area in decades, but the white authorities don’t seem to have any interest in solving the case. As the case continues to go unsolved, questions swirl around the town: Why were the Harmons murdered? Was it about drugs, money or a romantic dispute? And most importantly, who killed them?
Ms. Jo Wright has just moved back to West Mills from New York City to retire and marry a childhood sweetheart, Olympus “Lymp” Seymore. When she discovers that the murder victims are Lymp’s half-siblings, and that Lymp is one of West Mills’ leading culprits, she sets out on a transformative mission to prove his innocence. As Jo begins to investigate those who might know the most about the Harmons’ deaths, she starts to discover darker secrets than she’d ever imagined, and a pattern of cover-ups of racism, homophobia, and medical misuse that could upend the reputations of many. With Decent People, Winslow has written another novel with the makings of a classic, crafting a remarkable story that covers difficult themes of shame, race, and money with compassion, insight, and grace, and making the community of West Mills come alive from the first page.
De’Shawn Charles Winslow’s first novel, In West Mills, was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, Lambda Literary Award, Publishing Triangle Award, and Willie Morris Award for Southern Writing. He has been featured as a “Writer to Watch” in The New York Times and one of the “Black Male Writers of Our Time” in T, The New York Times Style Magazine. He was born and raised in Elizabeth City, North Carolina, graduated from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop and now lives in Atlanta, GA.
Jonathan Parks-Ramage is a Los Angeles based novelist, screenwriter and journalist. His critically acclaimed debut novel, YES, DADDY, was named as one of the best queer books of 2021 by Entertainment Weekly, NBC News, The Advocate, Bustle, Lambda Literary, Goodreads, and more. The book is currently being adapted for television. His writing has been widely published in such outlets as VICE, Slate, OUT Magazine, W Magazine, Lit Hub, Atlas Obscura, Elle, Electric Literature and more. He is also an alumnus of the Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference.
