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.

Wednesday, July 13, 2022
Discussion Bound Book Club
Jul 13 @ 12:00 pm
Asheville Art Museum

 

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.

Live Stream: Corban Addison presents Wastelands
Jul 13 @ 6:00 pm
Live Stream

This is a free event, but registration is required. 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!


Praised by John Grisham as “beautifully written, impeccably researched, and told with the air of suspense that few writers can handle,” WASTELANDS tells the virtually unknown true story of a thrilling courtroom showdown and the handful of crusading lawyers and neighbors who took on one of Big Agriculture’s largest monopolies. The once-idyllical rural land on North Carolina’s coastal plain, known as “Hog Country,” is home to the largest pork producer in the world, Smithfield Foods. It is also home to a poverty-stricken community who, for more than two decades, have complained that Smithfield’s polluting practices were making them sick and damaging their homes. In WASTELANDS, Corban Addison tells the story of several local residents, backed by five hundred of their neighbors and lead by a team of intrepid lawyers, who brought suit against Smithfield, one of the world’s most powerful multi-billion-dollar corporations.

CORBAN ADDISON is the internationally best-selling author of four novels, A Walk Across the Sun, The Garden of Burning Sand, The Tears of Dark Water (winner of the inaugural Wilbur Smith Adventure Writing Prize), and A Harvest of Thorns, all of which address some of today’s most pressing human rights issues. Wastelands is Addison’s debut work of nonfiction. An attorney, activist, and world traveler, he lives with his wife and children in Virginia.

Thursday, July 14, 2022
Grandfather Presents: Rick Ridgeway
Jul 14 @ 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Grandfather Mountain
Rick Ridgeway Events

The first speaker in our 2022 Grandfather Presents series is Rick Ridgeway. Rick is an outdoor adventurer, writer and advocate for sustainability and conservation initiatives. For 15 years, Rick was the VP of Environmental Affairs and then VP of Public Engagement at Patagonia, Inc. During his tenure he has worked with teams to develop and launch environmental and sustainability initiatives including Freedom to Roam, the Footprint Chronicles, the Responsible Economy Campaign and Worn Wear. He also was the developer of developer of the Higg Index and founding chairman of the Sustainable Apparel Coalition, which is today the largest apparel, footwear and home textile trade organization in the world.

Additional, Rick is recognized as one of the world’s foremost mountaineers. With three companions, he was the first American to summit K2, and he has done other significant climbs and explorations on all continents. During his explorations Rick witnessed the degradations of the wildlands that had come to define his life. He saw firsthand the remote grasslands in Patagonia turned into tourist cities and the glaciers on Kilimanjaro disappear. He also witnessed the wildlife that inhabited those wildlands decline, and in the mid-90s, he began a series of journeys that allowed him to communicate what was happening to these formally wild regions. He has written seven books and many magazine stories, and he has produced and directed dozens of television shows. His memoir Life Lived Wild was released in October 2021. National Geographic has also honored him with its “Lifetime Achievement in Adventure” award.

Rick serves on six boards of conservation organizations, including the Tompkins Conservation, the Turtle Conservancy, One Earth and the Kiewit Family Foundation. Rick lives in Ojai, California, and has three children and four grandchildren.

More About Grandfather Presents
Our 2022 speaker series at the Wilson Center for Nature Discovery includes three big Thursday night events with internationally and nationally known presenters. Presented by the Grandfather Mountain Stewardship Foundation, the series also includes three Saturday afternoon presentations focused on nature, adventure or conservation-related topics on a local or regional scale. Read more.

Schedule
5 – 6 p.m.: Entrance Gate opens for event. Proceed about one mile to Wilson Center for Nature Discovery.
5:15 – 5:45 p.m.: VIP event in the sunroom (holders of Pro Series Pass) to meet Rick.
5:30 – 6 p.m.: Reception for all ticket holders inside Wilson Center for Nature Discovery
6 – 7 p.m.: Presentation in Classroom in the Clouds event space
7 – 8 p.m.: Book Signing & Exhibits Open

Tickets
$50 per person (purchase below starting June 6)
Grandfather Presents Series Pass available for Bridge Club Members. Read more.

Refunds/Cancelations
The majority of Grandfather Mountain events generally sell out and have a waiting list. If you cannot attend the event that you registered for please let us know. Full refunds will be given to individuals who reach out to us at least five days before the event. This allows time for individuals on the waiting list to make accommodations to attend the event. To cancel your registration please call 828-733-2013 Monday-Friday 9 a.m. – 5 p.m.

Friday, July 15, 2022
Summer Book Sale at Pack Library
Jul 15 @ 10:00 am – 5:00 pm
Pack Memorial Library

The Friends of Pack Library will be having its annual Super Summer Book Sale on July 15 & 16. There will be antique and collectible books for sale, including hundreds of like-new comics, music CDs and DVDs, with lots of great items for children and adults.

The Special Collections department at Pack Library will be offering miscellaneous ephemera, including postcards, items good for coffee table display and crafting. On Friday, July 15, the sale will be from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and all items will be priced as marked. On Saturday, July 16, the sale will be from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and all books will be half-off the marked price.

In addition, Bookends Used Book Store at Pack Library will be offering 50% off all items in the store. The CDs, DVDs, comics, and Special Collections items will be priced as marked both days and not included in the half-off sale. Cash, check, and credit cards will be accepted for all sales. All proceeds benefit the library.

Saturday, July 16, 2022
Summer Book Sale at Pack Library
Jul 16 @ 10:00 am – 4:00 pm
Pack Memorial Library

The Friends of Pack Library will be having its annual Super Summer Book Sale on July 15 & 16. There will be antique and collectible books for sale, including hundreds of like-new comics, music CDs and DVDs, with lots of great items for children and adults.

The Special Collections department at Pack Library will be offering miscellaneous ephemera, including postcards, items good for coffee table display and crafting. On Friday, July 15, the sale will be from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and all items will be priced as marked. On Saturday, July 16, the sale will be from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and all books will be half-off the marked price.

In addition, Bookends Used Book Store at Pack Library will be offering 50% off all items in the store. The CDs, DVDs, comics, and Special Collections items will be priced as marked both days and not included in the half-off sale. Cash, check, and credit cards will be accepted for all sales. All proceeds benefit the library.

Tuesday, July 19, 2022
North Asheville Book Club: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood
Jul 19 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Online w/ North Asheville Library

North Asheville Book Club

Join us to discuss this month’s book: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

This is a hybrid in-person/virtual meeting. Participants may come in person to the North Asheville Library or participate via Zoom.

Registration is required for the Zoom link.

The North Asheville Book Club meets on the 3rd Tuesday of every month.

Live Stream: Mindi Meltz presents The Queen’s Rain, in conversation with Gary Caton
Jul 19 @ 6:00 pm
Live Stream
Image contains the text: Virtual Mindi Meltz presents The Queen’s Rain, in conversation with Gary Caton. Tuesday, July 19, 2022 at 6pm ET. Next to the text are photos of the participants and the cover of the featured book.

This event is a free event, but registration is required. 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!


The After Ever After trilogy is an epic, lyrical fairy tale of real relationship beyond the “happily ever after” union where most love stories end. Princesses based on Cinderella, Snow White, Belle and Sleeping Beauty transform by wicked-witch magic to claim their confidence as queens. Book III, The Queen’s Rain, entwines the threads of animal and human, feminine and masculine, city and wild, future and past, to integrate that forbidden magic which the heroines first encountered in Book I, then faced more deeply in Book II. Now they must heal their children’s traumas and return this magic to their kingdoms and queendoms, in the hopes that their peoples will evolve and unite, rather than condemn them.

In addition to the After Ever After trilogy, Mindi Meltz is the author of two more novels, Beauty and Lonely in the Heart of the World, and creates Animal Wisdom knowledge decks. Originally from the coast of Maine, she lives in an off-grid home in the mountains of Western North Carolina with her husband, cats, and goats.

Trivia Tuesday
Jul 19 @ 7:00 pm – 8:15 pm
Down Dog Yoga Studio and Dog Bar

Trivia Tuesday

Join us every Tuesday night for Trivia!

Trivia will run from 7-8:15 pm. We will be capping the teams at 20 and teams will not be able to join after 7 so make sure to arrive early to secure your spot!

No reservations needed, just grab your thinking caps and get ready for a good time and a chance to win a $10, $20, or $30 gift certificate to Down Dog!

Trivia Tuesday
Jul 19 @ 7:00 pm – 8:15 pm
Down Dog Yoga Studio and Dog Bar

Trivia Tuesday

No reservations needed, just get ready for a good time and a chance to win some Down Dog prizes!

Wednesday, July 20, 2022
Enka-Candler History Book Club: “Revelations” by Mary Sharratt
Jul 20 @ 2:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Enka-Candler Library

Join us for the Enka-Candler History Book Club! We read historical fiction and non-fiction books.

The next book for discussion is, “Revelations” by Mary Sharratt due to the discussion being cancelled in June.

All newcomers are welcome. We will be meeting in the community room.
Books are available for pick up at the front desk. No registration is required to attend this program.

Thursday, July 21, 2022
Live Stream: Lydia Stryk presents The Teachers’ Room in conversation with Kia Corthron
Jul 21 @ 6:00 pm
Live Stream

Image shows a green box with the text: Lydia Stryk in conversation with Kia Corthron. Virtual. Thursday, July 21. 6 PM. Next to the text are photos of the participants and the cover of the featured book.

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 novice fifth-grade teacher embarks on a clandestine love affair with another teacher, which sets her on the tumultuous path of self-discovery.

It is 1963, one of the most turbulent years in American history. The escalating tensions and conflicts in society at large are playing out in classrooms, principals’ offices, and school boards across the country, along with the first stirrings of social transformation, though the past still holds its suffocating grip. And behind the closed door of the teachers’ room in one small Midwest town, two teachers set eyes on each other and find it hard to look away.

Karen Murphy, fresh from college, has taken on her first teaching job. Despite her best efforts, she can’t seem to stick to the subjects in her fifth-grade school books, helped along by the antics of a girl who upends all her lesson plans. She has a lot to learn, and her women colleagues are there to offer their advice, especially the enigmatic fourth-grade teacher, Esther Jonas. As Karen quickly discovers, the devoted spinster teacher with no life beyond the classroom is a myth—the school is teeming with passion and secrets, her own perilous desire for Esther Jonas included.

The Teachers’ Room offers both a panoramic view of a changing America and an intimate portrait of the hidden lives of teachers.

The Teachers’ Room is a remarkable novel. The presentation of the setting is beautifully evocative, truly recreating an era. And the historical background—1963 in the Midwest, teachers who had to be closeted or risk everything—was such an important and pivotal time in American social history.  But The Teachers’ Room is never dry history. The plot will make the reader keep turning the pages. Most of all, The Teachers’ Room is a wonderful read—engaging, vivid in its depictions, deeply interesting in its characterizations, and very moving.” —Lillian Faderman, renowned scholar of lesbian and LGBT history and literature

Award-winning playwright Lydia Stryk was born and raised in DeKalb, Illinois, birthplace of barbed wire and flying ears of corn. After high school, she trained at the Drama Centre in London and pursued an acting career in New York for exactly one year before returning to school to study History and Education. She substitute-taught in New York City public schools, observing the social lives of children and the inner workings of the education system with fascination, and she completed a doctorate in Theatre at the CUNY Graduate Center. Her dissertation, “Acting Hysteria: An Analysis of the Actress and Her Part,” was an attempt to understand why her own short-lived experience acting the woman’s part felt pathological. Her plays have been produced across the country and beyond. The Teachers’ Room is her first novel. www.lydiastryk.com

Kia Corthorn is the author of the novels The Castle Cross the Magnet Carter, winner of the 2016 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice, and Moon and the Mars which was released in 2021. She is also an internationally produced playwright, garnering the Windham Campbell Prize for Drama, the United States Artists Jane Addams Fellowship, and the Horton Foote Prize, among others. She lives in Harlem, New York City.

Notorious HBC (History Book Club)
Jul 21 @ 7:00 pm
online

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.

Friday, July 22, 2022
Virtual Evening with Daniel Silva + Jamie Gangel
Jul 22 @ 8:00 pm
online
Image shows a gold box with the text: Ticketed Virtual. Books & Books/Miami Book Fair present Daniel Silva in conversation with Jamie Gangel. Friday, 7.22.22. 8 PM ET. Also shown are the Malaprop's Bookstore/Cafe logo, photos of the presenters, and the front cover of Silva's book PORTRAIT OF AN UNKNOWN WOMAN.

 

Join us for a virtual evening with Daniel Silva presenting Portrait of an Unknown Woman, in conversation with Jamie Gangel. 

This event is hosted by Books & Books/Miami Book Fair + indie bookstore partners.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Tickets are $29.99 each (plus applicable tax and shipping). Each ticket includes a signed hardcover copy of Portrait of an Unknown Woman, and a link to access the live event on Zoom. (Personalization is not available.) Purchase below.

Please make sure you submit the correct email address with your ticket purchase and that your email filters will allow messages from addresses @malaprops.com. The link required to attend will be emailed to you prior to the event.

NOTE: Books bundled with event tickets may be shipped ONLY to United States addresses. Books will not be shipped before publication date, July 19, 2022. Postal delivery times vary.


In a spellbinding new masterpiece by #1 New York Times bestselling author Daniel Silva, Gabriel Allon undertakes a high-stakes search for the greatest art forger who ever lived.

Stylish, sophisticated, and ingeniously plotted, Portrait of an Unknown Woman is a wildly entertaining journey through the dark side of the art world–a place where unscrupulous dealers routinely deceive their customers and deep-pocketed investors treat great paintings as though they were just another asset class to be bought and sold at a profit. From its elegant opening to the shocking twists of its climax, the novel is a tour de force of storytelling and one of the finest pieces of heist fiction ever written. And it is still more proof that, when it comes to international intrigue and suspense, Daniel Silva has no equal.

Daniel Silva is the award-winning, #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Unlikely Spy, The Mark of the Assassin, The Marching Season, The Kill Artist, The English Assassin, The Confessor, A Death in Vienna, Prince of Fire, The Messenger, The Secret Servant, Moscow Rules, The Defector, The Rembrandt Affair, Portrait of a Spy, The Fallen Angel, The English Girl, The Heist, The English Spy, The Black Widow, House of Spies, The Other Woman, The New Girl, The Order, and The Cellist. He is best known for his long-running thriller series starring spy and art restorer Gabriel Allon. Silva’s books are critically acclaimed bestsellers around the world and have been translated into more than thirty languages. He resides in Florida with his wife, television journalist Jamie Gangel, and their twins, Lily and Nicholas.

Jamie Gangel is an award-winning special correspondent at CNN covering politics and breaking news. Prior to that, Gangel was at NBC News and spent nearly two decades as National Correspondent for TODAY, covering a variety of issues, from popular culture to hard news.

Monday, July 25, 2022
Science Fiction Book Club
Jul 25 @ 7:00 pm
online

Join host and Malaprop’s Bookseller Allison to dive into the wreck of the wily and wonderful world of science fiction, fantasy, weird fiction, speculative fiction, and literary horror with a healthy mix of underappreciated classic and contemporary books. Meets the last Monday of every month at 7 pm on Zoom. Also meets on the second Monday of every month at 7 pm to discuss the film adaptations of the books we read.  Click here to see a full schedule of what the club is reading and contact the club host to join. Club attendees get 10% off the book at Malaprop’s!

Tuesday, July 26, 2022
Read WNC Series – Guests on Earth
Jul 26 @ 6:00 pm – 7:00 pm
online
Romance Book Club
Jul 26 @ 7:00 pm
zoom

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.

Trivia Tuesday
Jul 26 @ 7:00 pm – 8:15 pm
Down Dog Yoga Studio and Dog Bar

Trivia Tuesday

Join us every Tuesday night for Trivia!

Trivia will run from 7-8:15 pm. We will be capping the teams at 20 and teams will not be able to join after 7 so make sure to arrive early to secure your spot!

No reservations needed, just grab your thinking caps and get ready for a good time and a chance to win a $10, $20, or $30 gift certificate to Down Dog!

Trivia Tuesday
Jul 26 @ 7:00 pm – 8:15 pm
Down Dog Yoga Studio and Dog Bar

Trivia Tuesday

No reservations needed, just get ready for a good time and a chance to win some Down Dog prizes!

Wednesday, July 27, 2022
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library®
Jul 27 all-day
online

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library impacts the pre­-literacy skills and school readiness of children under the age of 5 in Buncombe County. The program mails a new, free, age-appropriate book to registered children each month until they turn five years old. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library creates a home library of up to 60 books and instills a love of books and reading from an early age. If you have any questions about the program, please send an email to [email protected].

A national panel of educators selects the Imagination Library titles, which include: The Little Engine that Could, Last Stop on Market Street, Violet the Pilot, As an Oak Tree Grows, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Look Out Kindergarten, here I come, and many more (take a look at all the titles).

Register your child now!

Foodie Book Club
Jul 27 @ 7:00 pm
online

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!

Wednesday, October 26, 2022 – 7:00pm
Wednesday, November 30, 2022 – 7:00pm
Wednesday, December 28, 2022 – 7:00pm
Thursday, July 28, 2022
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library®
Jul 28 all-day
online

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library impacts the pre­-literacy skills and school readiness of children under the age of 5 in Buncombe County. The program mails a new, free, age-appropriate book to registered children each month until they turn five years old. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library creates a home library of up to 60 books and instills a love of books and reading from an early age. If you have any questions about the program, please send an email to [email protected].

A national panel of educators selects the Imagination Library titles, which include: The Little Engine that Could, Last Stop on Market Street, Violet the Pilot, As an Oak Tree Grows, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Look Out Kindergarten, here I come, and many more (take a look at all the titles).

Register your child now!

Black Experience Book Club: Carefree Black Girls: a celebration of Black women in popular culture, by Zeba Blay
Jul 28 @ 6:30 pm – 7:30 pm
Noir Collective AVL
Friday, July 29, 2022
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library®
Jul 29 all-day
online

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library impacts the pre­-literacy skills and school readiness of children under the age of 5 in Buncombe County. The program mails a new, free, age-appropriate book to registered children each month until they turn five years old. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library creates a home library of up to 60 books and instills a love of books and reading from an early age. If you have any questions about the program, please send an email to [email protected].

A national panel of educators selects the Imagination Library titles, which include: The Little Engine that Could, Last Stop on Market Street, Violet the Pilot, As an Oak Tree Grows, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Look Out Kindergarten, here I come, and many more (take a look at all the titles).

Register your child now!

Saturday, July 30, 2022
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library®
Jul 30 all-day
online

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library impacts the pre­-literacy skills and school readiness of children under the age of 5 in Buncombe County. The program mails a new, free, age-appropriate book to registered children each month until they turn five years old. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library creates a home library of up to 60 books and instills a love of books and reading from an early age. If you have any questions about the program, please send an email to [email protected].

A national panel of educators selects the Imagination Library titles, which include: The Little Engine that Could, Last Stop on Market Street, Violet the Pilot, As an Oak Tree Grows, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Look Out Kindergarten, here I come, and many more (take a look at all the titles).

Register your child now!

Sunday, July 31, 2022
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library®
Jul 31 all-day
online

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library impacts the pre­-literacy skills and school readiness of children under the age of 5 in Buncombe County. The program mails a new, free, age-appropriate book to registered children each month until they turn five years old. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library creates a home library of up to 60 books and instills a love of books and reading from an early age. If you have any questions about the program, please send an email to [email protected].

A national panel of educators selects the Imagination Library titles, which include: The Little Engine that Could, Last Stop on Market Street, Violet the Pilot, As an Oak Tree Grows, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Look Out Kindergarten, here I come, and many more (take a look at all the titles).

Register your child now!

Monday, August 1, 2022
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library®
Aug 1 all-day
online

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library impacts the pre­-literacy skills and school readiness of children under the age of 5 in Buncombe County. The program mails a new, free, age-appropriate book to registered children each month until they turn five years old. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library creates a home library of up to 60 books and instills a love of books and reading from an early age. If you have any questions about the program, please send an email to [email protected].

A national panel of educators selects the Imagination Library titles, which include: The Little Engine that Could, Last Stop on Market Street, Violet the Pilot, As an Oak Tree Grows, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Look Out Kindergarten, here I come, and many more (take a look at all the titles).

Register your child now!

Tuesday, August 2, 2022
Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library®
Aug 2 all-day
online

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library impacts the pre­-literacy skills and school readiness of children under the age of 5 in Buncombe County. The program mails a new, free, age-appropriate book to registered children each month until they turn five years old. Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library creates a home library of up to 60 books and instills a love of books and reading from an early age. If you have any questions about the program, please send an email to [email protected].

A national panel of educators selects the Imagination Library titles, which include: The Little Engine that Could, Last Stop on Market Street, Violet the Pilot, As an Oak Tree Grows, The Tale of Peter Rabbit, Llama Llama Red Pajama, Look Out Kindergarten, here I come, and many more (take a look at all the titles).

Register your child now!

Hybrid Event: Heather Newton launches The Puppeteer’s Daughters in conversation with Tommy Hays
Aug 2 @ 6:00 pm
Malaprops Bookstore and online
Image shows a black box with text Hybrid. Heather Newton in conversation with Tommy Hays. Tuesday. 08.02.2022. 6 PM ET. Nex to the text are photos of the presenters and the cover of Newton's books THE PUPPETEER'S DAUGHTERS.

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. 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.

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!


Famed puppeteer and master manipulator Walter Gray surprises his three daughters by announcing there is a fourth at his 80th birthday party. An incomplete paternity test–and a will that places a condition on each daughter’s inheritance–suggest that the missing daughter isn’t a figment of his dementia.

The sisters each knew a different version of their enigmatic father, but all grew up in the presence of fairy tales acted out with marionettes and shadow puppets. If they are to find the fourth daughter and claim the legacy their father has left them, the three must confront their fractured relationships with their father and each other. Infused with fairy tales that sometimes spill magic into the sisters’ real lives, The Puppeteer’s Daughters is a stunningly-woven family saga about the cost and rewards of claiming a creative life.

Heather Newton’s short story collection McMullen Circle (Regal House 2022) was the finalist for the W.S. Porter prize. Her novel The Puppeteer’s Daughters is forthcoming from Turner Publishing in July 2022 and has been optioned by Sony Pictures Television. Her novel Under The Mercy Trees (HarperCollins 2011) won the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award, was chosen by the Women’s National Book Association as a Great Group Reads Selection and named an “Okra Pick” by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance. A practicing attorney, she teaches creative writing for UNC-Asheville’s Great Smokies Writing Program and is co-founder and Program Manager for the Flatiron Writers Room  writers’ center in Asheville.

Tommy Hays is the author of four novels. The Pleasure Was Mine (St. Martin’s Press), Sam’s Crossing (Atheneum) and In the Family Way (Random House), winner of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award and a selection of the Book of the Month Club. Tommy’s middle grade novel, What I Came to Tell You (Egmont USA), was chosen as a SIBA Okra Pick. He’s published stories and various pieces in magazines and literary journals such as RedbookOur StateSmoky Mountain LivingThe Chattahoochee Review and storySouth. Hays was recently inducted into the South Carolina Academy of Authors, writers judged to have added to South Carolina’s literary legacy. In 2021 he was named to the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the governor of North Carolina. He’s a member of the Board of Trustees for the North Carolina Writer’s Network and a member of National Book Critics Circle. He is retired Executive Director of the Great Smokies Writing Program and Lecturer Emeritus in the Master of Liberal Arts program at UNC Asheville. He received his BA in English from Furman University and graduated from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

Hybrid Event: Heather Newton launches The Puppeteer’s Daughters in conversation with Tommy Hays
Aug 2 @ 6:00 pm
Malaprop's Bookstore
Image shows a black box with text Hybrid. Heather Newton in conversation with Tommy Hays. Tuesday. 08.02.2022. 6 PM ET. Nex to the text are photos of the presenters and the cover of Newton's books THE PUPPETEER'S DAUGHTERS.

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. 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.

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!


Famed puppeteer and master manipulator Walter Gray surprises his three daughters by announcing there is a fourth at his 80th birthday party. An incomplete paternity test–and a will that places a condition on each daughter’s inheritance–suggest that the missing daughter isn’t a figment of his dementia.

The sisters each knew a different version of their enigmatic father, but all grew up in the presence of fairy tales acted out with marionettes and shadow puppets. If they are to find the fourth daughter and claim the legacy their father has left them, the three must confront their fractured relationships with their father and each other. Infused with fairy tales that sometimes spill magic into the sisters’ real lives, The Puppeteer’s Daughters is a stunningly-woven family saga about the cost and rewards of claiming a creative life.

Heather Newton’s short story collection McMullen Circle (Regal House 2022) was the finalist for the W.S. Porter prize. Her novel The Puppeteer’s Daughters is forthcoming from Turner Publishing in July 2022 and has been optioned by Sony Pictures Television. Her novel Under The Mercy Trees (HarperCollins 2011) won the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award, was chosen by the Women’s National Book Association as a Great Group Reads Selection and named an “Okra Pick” by the Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance. A practicing attorney, she teaches creative writing for UNC-Asheville’s Great Smokies Writing Program and is co-founder and Program Manager for the Flatiron Writers Room  writers’ center in Asheville.

Tommy Hays is the author of four novels. The Pleasure Was Mine (St. Martin’s Press), Sam’s Crossing (Atheneum) and In the Family Way (Random House), winner of the Thomas Wolfe Memorial Literary Award and a selection of the Book of the Month Club. Tommy’s middle grade novel, What I Came to Tell You (Egmont USA), was chosen as a SIBA Okra Pick. He’s published stories and various pieces in magazines and literary journals such as RedbookOur StateSmoky Mountain LivingThe Chattahoochee Review and storySouth. Hays was recently inducted into the South Carolina Academy of Authors, writers judged to have added to South Carolina’s literary legacy. In 2021 he was named to the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, the highest civilian honor bestowed by the governor of North Carolina. He’s a member of the Board of Trustees for the North Carolina Writer’s Network and a member of National Book Critics Circle. He is retired Executive Director of the Great Smokies Writing Program and Lecturer Emeritus in the Master of Liberal Arts program at UNC Asheville. He received his BA in English from Furman University and graduated from the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.

WILD (Women in Lively Discussion) Book Club
Aug 2 @ 6:30 pm
Battery Park Book Exchange

Join former Malaprop’s General Manager Linda-Marie Barrett for this woman-only book club that seeks to have fun by reading books (fiction & non) by women writers. 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 6:30 P.M. on the first Tuesday of the month at the Battery Park Book Exchange. It will be held virtually during the COVID-19 pandemic.