In the spirit of You Are a Badass and The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F*ck, a helpful and humorous guide to shedding our anxious habits and building a more solid sense of self in our increasingly anxiety-inducing world.
Licensed therapist and mental health writer Dr. Kathleen Smith offers a smart, practical antidote to our anxiety-ridden times. Everything Isn’t Terrible is an informative and practical guide — featuring a healthy dose of humor — for people who want to become beacons of calmness in their families, at work, and in our anxious world. Everything Isn’t Terrible will inspire you to confront your anxious self, take charge of your anxiety, and increase your own capacity to choose how you respond to it. Comprised of short chapters containing anecdotal examples from Smith’s work with her clients, in addition to engaging, actionable exercises for readers, Everything Isn’t Terrible will give anyone suffering from anxiety all the tools they need to finally…calm…down.
Ultimately, living a calmer, less anxious life — one that isn’t terrible — is possible, and with this book, you’ll learn how to do it.

Kathleen Smith is a licensed therapist and mental health writer who lives in Washington, DC. She has written for popular publications such as Slate, Salon, New York Magazine, Lifehacker, Bustle, and Counseling Today, among many others. She is an associate faculty member at the Bowen Center for the Study of the Family and hosts the show Family Matters, a production of the University of the District of Columbia. She will be in conversation with Joanne O’Sullivan, author of Between Two Skies.

This event is free and open to the public. We ask that you purchase the books you want to be signed at our events from Malaprop’s. When you do this you are not only supporting the work it takes to run an events program, you are also telling the publishers that they should keep sending authors here. Can’t make it to the store for the event? Call us or order the book on our website in advance, and we’ll get it signed for you. Make sure you write your preferences in the comments if you purchase online.

We are thrilled to bring a preview of the 18th annual Asheville Fringe Arts Festival to Fleetwood’s in West Asheville on Saturday, January 11th, 7 to 9 pm (free). Get a taste of Fringe dance, installation and music from the edges, and grab one of the freshly printed festival guides! One week ahead of the festival, you’ll get a chance to talk to artists and organizers, and plan which of the 100+ shows, 55+ artists and 15+ venues you will visit. We recommend fully immersing yourself! It’s a community, an international movement, an adventure!

Do you take this performance art to be your love-fully wedded Fringe favorite? Site-specific dance troupe The Accidentals will be performing a fun, wedding-themed interactive piece.

After the wedding, enter the “Womb”, a one-on-one shadow puppetry experience with live music, created by Geneva Bierce Wilson. You are invited to be reborn in this empowering and intimate performance.

Outside Fleetwood’s you can explore the Asheville Zed “Emerge n See”, a mobile museum constructed in a converted ambulance. 20+ artists have created dioramas, interactive sculptures, multimedia projections and instagramable moments in every nook and cranny.

This awesome free event is co-hosted by Asheville FM!  AshevilleFM’s DJ Avel Veeta, of Flytrap, will be spinning energized tunes from across the universe, while Fleetwood’s friendly bartender offers refreshments. Come get Fringey with us!

Join Andrew Clark, Eric Nelson, Meagan Smith Lucas, and Benjamin Cutler, as they celebrate the launch of Clark’s book, Jesus in the Trailer. They will be joined by event MC, Lockie Hunter.

Jesus in the Trailer is an intimate and sobering look at the South, at faith, at youth and aging. Clark’s poems are as tangible as red clay, with an appreciation for the rustic and reverence for time. From start to finish, this is a truly captivating collection. You’ll return to it again and again. ~Ariel Felton, writer and editor in Savannah, Georgia

This is a work about moths, Savannah, teeth, Prince, lipstick, churches, tombstones and everything in between. This is a poetry book that will take you places you don’t expect, with precise language. This is an author at the top of his talent, in beautiful form. This is a book for you. For us. Thank you, Andrew. ~Marcus Amaker, award-winning graphic designer and Poet Laureate of Charleston, SC

Andrew K. Clark is a writer and poet whose work has appeared recently in Out of Anonymity–The UCLA Writing Project, Good Juju, Zingara, and NO:1, Number One journals. He is the recipient of the Georgia Southern University Roy F. Powell Creative Writing Award. He grew up in the small town of Alexander, North Carolina, outside of Asheville, where he now resides. An excerpt from his forthcoming novel, The Day Thief, was selected to appear in the Blue Mountain Review in March 2019.

This event is free and open to the public. We ask that you purchase the books you want to be signed at our events from Malaprop’s. When you do this you are not only supporting the work it takes to run an events program, you are also telling the publishers that they should keep sending authors here. Can’t make it to the store for the event? Call us or order the book on our website in advance, and we’ll get it signed for you. Make sure you write your preferences in the comments if you purchase online.

#1 New York Times bestselling author Ransom Riggs returns with a hotly anticipated new book in the blockbuster series, “Miss Peregrines Peculiar Children.” The new arc of the Miss Peregrine series launched readers into the previously unexplored world of American peculiars, one bursting with new questions, new allies, and new adversaries. Now, with enemies behind him and the unknown ahead, Jacob Portmans story continues as he takes a brave leap forward into The Conference of the Birds.

PLEASE READ CAREFULLY and make sure to provide an email address where you can receive reminders and updates from Brown Paper Tickets’ automated system.

There will be a TIERED TICKETING SYSTEM for this event, with three available options:

*GOLD TICKETS SOLD OUT: GOLD TICKETS will be issued to the FIRST 20 people to purchase tickets to this event. These tickets include a copy of THE CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS. Gold ticket holders are invited to a special meet and greet with author Ransom Riggs, and will receive a swag bag, have access to the activity stations, the event, and first priority in the signing line. (Gold ticket holders admitted at 5:40 p.m. for meet & greet.)

*SILVER TICKET holders gain access to the activity stations, receive a swag item, and are admitted to the event with second priority in the signing line. Silver tickets also include a copy of THE CONFERENCE OF THE BIRDS. (Activities for Gold/Silver ticket holders start at 6:00 p.m.)

BRONZE TICKETS are free and do not include a copy of the book. Bronze tickets are for admission to the author presentation and third priority in the signing line. (Doors open at 6:30 for general admission.)

The past decade has been one of the most racially turbulent periods in the modern era, as the complicated breakthrough of the Obama presidency gave way to the racially charged campaigning and eventual governing of Donald Trump. Keepin’ It Real presents a wide-ranging group of essays that take on key aspects of the current landscape surrounding racial issues in America, including the place of the Obamas, the rise of the alt-right and White nationalism, Donald Trump, Colin Kaepernick and the backlash against his protests, Black Lives Matter, sexual politics in the black community, and much more.
America’s racial problems aren’t going away any time soon. Keepin’ It Real will serve as a marker of the arguments we’re having right now, and an argument for the changes we need to make to become the better nation we’ve long imagined ourselves to be.

Elwood David Watson is professor of history, African American studies, and gender studies at East Tennessee State University.

This event is free and open to the public. We ask that you purchase the books you want to be signed at our events from Malaprop’s. When you do this you are not only supporting the work it takes to run an events program, you are also telling the publishers that they should keep sending authors here. Can’t make it to the store for the event? Call us or order the book on our website in advance, and we’ll get it signed for you. Make sure you write your preferences in the comments if you purchase online.

Meet and greet at 6pm, Pondering starts at 6:30.

Please enter the church through the front door. There is ample parking on the street in front of the church. There will be a $2 per person offering for the use of the church facilities and I think this is very fair. This is in addition to any donation you may wish to give for the expenses of the meetup itself. Feel free to bring any reasonable food or drink for yourself or to share.

RSVPs go live every Friday at 5pm.

Fans of Pat Conroy will enjoy John Russell’s long-awaited second novel, a rich, multi-generational story of money and morals, power and race, sex and sanity, set in a changing America.
Jack Callahan is an outsider in his adopted hometown of Raleigh, North Carolina. A successful lawyer, he’s spent years trying to move in all the right circles. But with his literary mother in a sanitarium, his society marriage on the rocks, and his biggest client–Raleigh’s family-owned newspaper the Criterion–facing a hostile takeover, he’s beginning to wonder if it’s really worth it.
Step by step readers are drawn into the “non-secret secrets” of an elite that wields power founded on intricate manners and unsolved crimes. Jack’s mentor, World War II hero Hugh Symmes, is haunted by family misdeeds during the Wilmington Massacre of 1898. His client, Ward Forrest, third-generation newspaper heir, portions out liberal duty against riches amassed during the Jim Crow past. His friend, African-American judge Kai-Jana Blount, weighs the call to higher office against deals with men her civil rights crusading family had opposed.
Together they face a threat from Wall Street raider Victor Broman, Jack’s former client, who is hell-bent to acquire the Criterion for shadowy patrons. Jack tries his best to “do the hero-ing”–but questions the costs. Eventually, he takes counsel from his friend Lowry, a mysterious Native American mystic, who unveils a different path, away from all the right circles.

John Russell is the author of the award-winning novel Favorite Sons, which the New York Times heralded as “…a novel of ideas sweeping grandly through more than 40 years of Southern history.” A native of Greensboro, North Carolina, he was educated at the University of North Carolina, Columbia University, and Harvard Law School. He and his wife divide their time between North Carolina and Mexico.

This event is free and open to the public. We ask that you purchase the books you want to be signed at our events from Malaprop’s. When you do this you are not only supporting the work it takes to run an events program, you are also telling the publishers that they should keep sending authors here. Can’t make it to the store for the event? Call us or order the book on our website in advance, and we’ll get it signed for you. Make sure you write your preferences in the comments if you purchase online.

Caroline Christopoulos and Lauren Harr of Gold Leaf Literary Services, LLC will hold an informational session for authors on best practices for working with bookstores to create a mutually beneficial relationship. They will discuss publishing options and how they affect bookstore relationships, ways to help boost sales, making the most of author events, and more. Christopoulos and Harr have decades of experience in the book industry and have taught courses for authors through the Great Smokies Writing Program, Flatiron Writers Room, and NC Writer’s Network. More on Gold Leaf Literary at www.goldleafliterary.com. This event is free, but does require registration. The deadline to register is January 15th. To register, email [email protected] with the subject: Malaprop’s session.

E. Patrick Johnson’s Honeypot opens with the fictional trickster character Miss B. barging into the home of Dr. EPJ, informing him that he has been chosen to collect and share the stories of her people. With little explanation, she whisks the reluctant Dr. EPJ away to the women-only world of Hymen, where she serves as his tour guide as he bears witness to the real-life stories of queer Black women throughout the American South. The women he meets come from all walks of life and recount their experiences on topics ranging from coming out and falling in love to mother/daughter relationships, religion, and political activism. As Dr. EPJ hears these stories, he must grapple with his privilege as a man and as an academic, and in the process he gains insights into patriarchy, class, sex, gender, and the challenges these women face. Combining oral history with magical realism and poetry, Honeypot is an engaging and moving book that reveals the complexity of identity while offering a creative method for scholarship to represent the lives of other people in a rich and dynamic way.

E. Patrick Johnson is Carlos Montezuma Professor of Performance Studies and African American Studies at Northwestern University and the author and editor of several books, most recently No Tea, No Shade: New Writings in Black Queer Theory, also published by Duke University Press.

This event is free and open to the public. We ask that you purchase the books you want to be signed at our events from Malaprop’s. When you do this you are not only supporting the work it takes to run an events program, you are also telling the publishers that they should keep sending authors here. Can’t make it to the store for the event? Call us or order the book on our website in advance, and we’ll get it signed for you. Make sure you write your preferences in the comments if you purchase online.

Beginner’s workshop lesson at 7:30 P.M., then 8-11 P.M. Contra Dance with Country Waltzing at the break and the final dance. This is a partner dance but it’s not necessary to come with a partner. We have different live bands and callers.

Doors and Event begin at 10:00am to 1:00pm – Open Floor Dance Party for Kids with a Live DJ Oso Rey! Drop in anytime.

Playing Child-Appropriate FUN dance music from the Jackson 5’s “ABC” to “Shake it Off” to old-school hip hop tracks, favorites from 23 Skidoo, and much more!

There will be FREE Glow accessories for your little dancers, plenty of room to run, dance, and get their sillies out while it’s cold outside, and snacks for purchase from Asheville Pizza Co and the Hop Ice Creamery! And of course, The Orange Peel bar will be open for mom and dad’s refreshments (and/or kids’ juice boxes)

Padded area available for crawlers and new walkers to play and explore.

The music will be especially chosen to appeal to kids from ages 2 to 12, but the whole family is more than welcome! 12 and under are only $3 (under 2 years old are free) and everyone else is $5.

2 private rooms available for rent for birthday parties after the dance party ends! Bring decorations and a cake and let the Orange Peel & the Hop help you create a fun and unique birthday experience for your child and their buddies after they dance their booties off! Contact [email protected] for more information and party reservations.

Join us at Little Jumbo for CRAFT: Authors in Conversation, a new series conceived and hosted by New York Times bestselling author Denise Kiernan! Little Jumbo, located at 241 Broadway Street in Asheville, features classic and classically-inspired craft cocktails, food, live music and more. Their staff will create a specialty cocktail or mocktail for each event. The doors will open at 2:30 pm and the event will begin at 3:00.  If you are not already a Little Jumbo member, there is one-time $1.00 fee. The event is otherwise free of charge and Little Jumbo offers free parking at the corner of Broadway and Monroe. Visit https://www.littlejumbobar.com/ for more information.

A small number of reserved seats will be available to those who purchase the featured book from Malaprop’s prior to the event. Additional seating and standing room will be allotted on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Starting off CRAFT’s inaugural year is New York City author Ada Calhoun, who will join Kiernan to discuss, Why We Can’t Sleep: Women’s New Midlife Crisis, an expansion of Calhoun’s viral story for Oprah.com about the distinct issues facing Generation X women. She and Kiernan will discuss the book, Calhoun’s inspiration and research, and the craft of writing at the event. 

Calhoun is also the author of Wedding Toasts I’ll Never Give and St. Marks Is Dead. Calhoun has worked as an A-list ghostwriter, collaborating on fourteen nonfiction books, including several New York Times bestsellers. She has written for Time, National Geographic Traveler, O: The Oprah magazine, the Times Literary Supplement, The New Republic, Billboard, Cosmopolitan and Redbook and her national news reporting has won multiple awards. 

Denise Kiernan is an author, journalist and producer whose latest book, The Last Castle, was an instant New York Times bestseller in both hardcover and paperback, as well as a Wall Street Journal bestseller. Her previous title, The Girls of Atomic City, is a New York Times, Los Angeles Times, and NPR bestseller and has been published in seven languages. 

oin us to celebrate the launch of Things That Women Do, by Cynn Chadwick. Marie Hefley, editor of the Great Smokies Review, will moderate a panel discussion between Chadwick and authors Vicki Lane, Mildred Barya, Laura Hope-Gill, Jennifer McGaha, and Ellen J. Perry.

After Anna Shields receives an invitation from her estranged Aunt Lydia, she flies to Tennessee to find a number of older women-Tasha, Sadie, and Chloe-also living on Lydia’s farm. Losing power during a blizzard, the women share dark and startling secrets. Skating between past and present, they reveal frighteningly desperate things that they have done. Anna begins to realize, to her shock, that these things are connected to her own past and become key to her future.

Cynn Chadwick is an author of seven novels: Cat Rising, Girls With Hammers, Babies, Bikes, and Broads, Cutting Loose, Angels, and Manners, As The Table Turns, and That’s Karma, Baby… Her books have been nominated for the Lambda, Golden Crown, and Stonewall Literary Awards. Over the course of her career, she has done readings and speaking engagements including: Saints and Sinners Literary Festival in New Orleans, The Authors’ Arena at Book Expo America in Chicago, Human Rights Campaign Headquarters, DC, AWP in Atlanta, Amelia Island Book Festival, FL, Malaprop’s Bookstore/Cafe, Asheville and UNCA are just a few of her past speaking and reading engagements. She holds a BA from Norwich University and both an MA and MFA from Goddard College in Vermont. Over the last, nearly, thirty years, she taught creative writing to fifth-graders and senior citizens, teachers and homeless teens, college students and convicted felons and have been equally touched by each of their stories. She lives with her wife Elenna and their Springer Spaniel, The Amazing Andy, in the Blue Ridge Mountains is where she taught in the English Department and Creative Writing program at the University of North Carolina at Asheville.

Mary Cassatt Miller falls for famous photojournalist Ethan Graham. But it’s complicated. For months at a time, Ethan’s work takes him to Afghanistan, and Cass, who’s passionate about her job in Atlanta, wants a husband who comes home at night. Then, there’s the issue of family–he wants one; she doesn’t.

What they do want is a life together, so Ethan agrees that after three years, he will stop traveling–whether Cass agrees to children or not. But for Cass, who grew up with a mother who didn’t want her and a father who was never home, even thinking about children is troubling.
Now, nine weeks before their third anniversary, Cass wonders whether Ethan will try to squeeze in one final trip to Afghanistan. When he does, she’s unsure if he will ever give up the work he loves. And if he won’t, well, she will not repeat the life her parents had.
As the clock counts down, it doesn’t help that Singer, the artist-bartender, is always in Atlanta, and the enthralling Setara, the subject of Ethan’s most famous photograph, is also his business partner. Then, a new danger in Afghanistan changes everything.
In this elegant and honest debut novel, Cass and Ethan must navigate that fine line between the things they want for themselves and the life they want together, and it appears that Cass will have to choose one or the other.

Cynthia Newberry Martin grew up in Atlanta, Georgia. After first practicing law, she earned an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her website features the How We Spend Our Days series for writers. She lives in Columbus, Georgia, with her husband, and in Provincetown in a little house by the water. Tidal Flats is her first novel.

This event is free and open to the public. We ask that you purchase the books you want to be signed at our events from Malaprop’s. When you do this you are not only supporting the work it takes to run an events program, you are also telling the publishers that they should keep sending authors here. Can’t make it to the store for the event? Call us or order the book on our website in advance, and we’ll get it signed for you. Make sure you write your preferences in the comments if you purchase online.

Join us to kick of the tour for Nick Bruel’s newest book!

See Kitty as you’ve never seen her before: EXERCISING (reluctantly) in the latest installment of the phenomenally successful New York Times–bestelling series. Kitty is terribly out of shape—she can barely torment Puppy without needing a break to huff and puff! When Kitty’s owner catches her wheezing, Kitty is told it’s time to EXERCISE. It takes some serious convincing, a high-stakes competition, and a little bit of trickery but eventually Kitty gets into the competitive spirit . . . albeit reluctantly. What did you expect? Will our favorite feline friend learn what it means to be a good sport? Find out in this hilarious addition to the Bad Kitty series.

Nick Bruel is the author and illustrator of the phenomenally successful Bad Kitty series, including the 2012 and 2013 CBC Children’s Choice Book Award winners Bad Kitty Meets the Baby and Bad Kitty for President. Nick has also written and illustrated popular picture books, including A Wonderful Year. Nick lives with his wife and daughter in Westchester, New York. nickbruel.com

This event is free and open to the public. We ask that you purchase the books you want to be signed at our events from Malaprop’s. When you do this you are not only supporting the work it takes to run an events program, you are also telling the publishers that they should keep sending authors here. Can’t make it to the store for the event? Call us or order the book on our website in advance, and we’ll get it signed for you. Make sure you write your preferences in the comments if you purchase online.

See Kitty as you’ve never seen her before: EXERCISING (reluctantly) in the latest installment of the phenomenally successful New York Times–bestelling series. Kitty is terribly out of shape—she can barely torment Puppy without needing a break to huff and puff! When Kitty’s owner catches her wheezing, Kitty is told it’s time to EXERCISE. It takes some serious convincing, a high-stakes competition, and a little bit of trickery but eventually Kitty gets into the competitive spirit . . . albeit reluctantly. What did you expect? Will our favorite feline friend learn what it means to be a good sport? Find out in this hilarious addition to the Bad Kitty series.

Nick Bruel is the author and illustrator of the phenomenally successful Bad Kitty series, including the CBC Children’s Choice Book Award winners Bad Kitty Meets the Baby and Bad Kitty for President.