Wednesday, July 1 through Friday, July 31
FIND WALDO!
All month long find Waldo at local businesses and enter to win prizes!
We have the passports; just drop by the store and pick one up. Take it to the businesses listed and look for Waldo. When you find him, ask a store employee to stamp your passport. Get 10 stamps or more and we’ll give you a button and a coupon toward the purchase of Waldo books. Get
20 or more and we’ll enter you to win prizes at our Find Waldo Party on July 31st!
Wednesday, July 1 at 7 pm
JENNY MARTIN & COURTNEY STEVENS READING & SIGNING Fast cars are Phoebe “Phee” Van Zant’s mode of opposition in Jenny Martin’s debut Tracked, which Erin Bowman calls “an action-packed sci-fi with heart.” Martin is a school librarian in Texas. Courtney Stevens tackles difficult ground in her novel Faking Normal.
Publishers Weekly says, “Somewhere between Sarah Dessen and Laurie Halse Anderson lies Stevens’s rich debut about two adolescents grappling with extraordinary trauma.” Stevens was once an Olympic Torch bearer and lives in Nashville.
Sunday, July 5 at 3 pm
POETRIO
Join us for our monthly series of readings and signings by 3 poets at
3 pm! This month will feature William Wright (Tree Heresies), Ray McManus (Punch.), and Ed Madden (Nest).
Thursday, July 9 at 7 pm
FIONA RITCHIE & DOUG ORR with LITTLE WINDOWS We are thrilled to welcome back Fiona Ritchie and Doug Orr, authors of Wayfaring Strangers: The Musical Voyage from Scotland and Ulster to Appalachia! If you missed them last time, this is your opportunity to hear these dynamic music lovers talk about our musical heritage.
Ritchie is the founder and host of NPR’s The Thistle & Shamrock and Orr is president emeritus of Warren Wilson College and one of the founders of the Swannanoa Gathering. This time they’ll be joined by Mark Weems and Julee Glaub of Little Windows, a Durham-based group that focuses on traditional Irish and Appalachian music. The Boston Globe says, “Backed by banjo, guitar, fiddle, flute and piano, their music is achingly honest, as sweeping, secluded, and darkly pretty as the far places from which the songs first came.” This event is free and open to the public.
Saturday, July 11 at 7 pm
RAVI BATRA READING & SIGNING
A professor of economics at Southern Methodist University, Dr. Ravi Batra and his work have appeared in the New York Times, Newsweek, and the U.S. News and World Report, among many others. His book, End Unemployment Now “offers practicable solutions to many of the economic problems plaguing America,” according to Publishers Weekly. Dr. Batra is the author of several other books including The New Golden Age: The Coming Revolution Against Political Corruption and Economic Chaos.
Sunday, July 12 at 3 pm
DR. BUD HARRIS READING & SIGNING
In his new memoir, Cracking Open: A Memoir of Struggling, Passages, and Transformations, local author and Jungian analyst Dr. Bud Harris shares his story of transformation, remembering, and understanding. A
1994 journaling session led to specific points in Dr. Harris’ past, helping him to understand themes from his life in deeper context. Dr.
Harris and his wife Massimilla are the authors of several books including their most recent, Into the Heart of the Feminine.
Monday, July 13 at 7 pm
MARLIN BARTON READING & SIGNING
With stories set in his native Alabama, Marlin Barton’s third story collection, Pasture Art, treads familiar terrain–dirt, river, forest, and pasture–for the author. Publishers Weekly says the collection is “reminiscent of Larry Brown’s gritty Southern storytelling.” Barton is also the author of two novels, A Broken Thing and The Cross Garden, and his work has appeared in Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards and The Best American Short Stories. He teaches in and helps direct the Writing Our Stories program for juvenile offenders in Mt. Meigs, Alabama, and teaches in the low-residency MFA program at Converse College.
Wednesday, July 15 at 7 pm
BRIAN PANOWICH READING & SIGNING
Firefighter and former musician Brian Panowich brings a cagey North Georgia clan to life in Bull Mountain, his debut novel. One member of the Burroughs family finds a way out of the outlaw business, but is inevitably sucked back in by an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Wiley Cash says, “Panowich stamps words on the page as if they’ve been blasted from the barrel of a shotgun.” He goes on to call the novel “wonderfully rich and evocative.”
Thursday, July 16 at 5:30 pm
MISS NELSON IS MISSING with the ACA
We are so happy to continue our partnership with Asheville Creative
Arts: Innovative Theatre for Children of ALL Ages! Whet your appetite for their fabulous new production, Miss Nelson is Missing!, meet some of the cast and crew, and hear music from the show performed by Joan Cushing, who wrote the book, music, and lyrics for the stage adaptation. The musical is based on the book by Harry Allard and runs at NC Stage July 16-26.
Friday, July 17 at 7 pm
PHIL JAMISON LAUNCH PARTY
We are thrilled to host local author and teacher Phil Jamison in celebration of his book Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics: Roots and Branches of Southern Appalachian Dance! An exploration of traditional dance forms, “[Hoedowns, Reels, and Frolics] shines a beautifully well researched light on the birth of folk dance and music in these United States,” according to Rhiannon Giddens of the Carolina Chocolate Drops. She also says, “Jamison’s thoughtful treatise will have you re-evaluating what you thought you knew about Square Dance–this ain’t just a do-si-do in the school gym!” Coordinator of Warren Wilson’s Appalachian Music Program, Jamison is nationally known as a dance caller, musician, and flatfoot dancer. His flatfoot dancing was recently featured in the film, Songcatcher, for which he also served as Traditional Dance consultant. The event will include a reception and demonstrations!
Wednesday, July 22 at 7 pm
MARLA MILLING READING & SIGNING
Only in Asheville: An Eclectic History is local author Marla Milling’s homage to the things that make us weird and wonderful! The book is full of history, beloved fixtures like Julian Price and Sister Bad Habit, and all the cultural oddities and eccentricities that locals and tourists get to enjoy. Hold it up to your ear and you can almost hear the drum circle. Milling is a local freelance writer.
Thursday, July 23 at 7 pm
CHARLES THOMPSON READING & SIGNING
We are happy to welcome back North Carolina farmer turned activist Charles Thompson! Inspired by Steinbeck’s Travels with Charley, Thompson took to the road for his latest book, Border Odyssey: Travels along the U.S./Mexico Divide. Exploring the geography, politics, culture, and people of the borderlands, Border Odyssey “breathes life into contemporary debates on immigration that often flatten the human implications of national policy,” according to Louis Mendoza. Julia Alvarez (A Wedding in Haiti, In the Time of the Butterflies) says, “We need these stories that bring us together, the travel that makes us realize that the only borders that really exist between us are the ones that come of ignorance and fear.” Thompson is a professor at Duke University and the author of Spirits of Just Men.
Saturday, July 25 at 3 pm
ROBERT BEATTY READING & SIGNING
Serafina and the Black Cloak, local author Robert Beatty’s debut novel for young readers, is already causing a stir due to its setting (the Biltmore Estate) and strong female character (Serafina, of course!).
Serafina is a stowaway in the basement of the estate who becomes ensnared in a mystery of disappearing children. Though the book is recommended for ages 8 to 12, Kirkus Reviews says, “Adults and children will eagerly follow Serafina from the basement into a world of self-discovery, justice, and new friendships.” One of the pioneers of cloud computing, Beatty was the founder/CEO of Plex Systems, the co-founder of Beatty Robotics, and the CTO and chairman of Narrative magazine before turning to writing full-time.
Sunday, July 26 at 2 pm
WRITING WORKSHOP with PEGGY TABOR MILLIN Beloved local teacher and author of Women, Writing, and Soul-Making, Peggy Tabor Millin will lead a Centered Writing Practice mini-workshop. This body-centered process includes group writing prompts, voluntarily reading aloud, and feedback. All are welcome to this inclusive creative exercise. This is the practice that inspired the writing in Writing in Circles, a collection of work by Millin’s students. A reading from Writing in Circles will follow.
Sunday, July 26 at 3 pm
WRITING IN CIRCLES READING with PEGGY TABOR MILLIN A companion to her book on creativity, Women, Writing, and Soul-Making, Writing in Circles features the work of dozens of students of Millin’s Centered Writing Practice approach. Several local contributors including Jennifer Browning, Tracey Schmidt, Suzanne Blievernicht, Jeanette Reid, Nancy Newlin, Robin Gaiser, Kimberly Childs, Ginger Graziano, Betsy Fletcher, and Maggie Wynne will read their work and share their experience with the writing practice.
Monday, July 27 at 7 pm
RAY BARFIELD READING & SIGNING
Yslea is 19 and pregnant when she asks for a glass of water at a row house along the tracks outside of Memphis. She unwittingly joins the small community and creates a family, all while finding her own foothold in the world. Fred Chappell says, “Yslea’s world is small, but it embraces an immense universe of wonderments, bright emotions, slant thoughts and patterns that only she can discover. … a wonderful novel!” A poet and pediatric oncologist at Duke University School of Medicine, Barfield is also the author of The Ancient Quarrel Between Poetry and Philosophy.
Wednesday, July 29 at 7 pm
DASHA KELLY READING & SIGNING
Dasha Kelly is a writer, spoken word artist, and the founder of Still Waters Collective, an arts education and community-building initiative. Her latest book, Almost Crimson, follows CeCe, a woman struggling to find her way out of what seems an inevitable destiny.
“Candid and heartfelt, Almost Crimson is a poignant examination of love, family, chronic depression, and the sacrifices we make,”
according to BuzzFeed. Kirkus Reviews calls the novel “a multilayered exploration of the intricate nature of family ties in defining who we are–and how, ultimately, we can choose who we want to become.”
Thursday, July 30 at 7 pm
MARGARET BRADHAM THORNTON READING & SIGNING We are so lucky to welcome Margaret Bradham Thornton, editor of Tennessee Williams: Notebooks and author of the novel Charleston, back to Malaprop’s! Influenced by a decade of unearthing Williams’ life and a 19th century Charleston garden, Thornton penned a love story where “the real femme fatale is the city itself, a place where the breeze in the laurel oak sounds ‘like a slow kind of applause,’…and the citizens speak with ‘dropped r’s that almost sound English.'” (The New York Times Book Review) Filled with lush detail and sumptuous art, Charleston beautifully evokes Thornton’s native city.
Friday, July 31 at 5:30 pm
FIND WALDO FINALÉ PARTY
Celebrate a month of looking for our spectacled friend with treats, prizes, and other fun! We will draw the names entered into the raffle and enjoy some yummy refreshments. Yay! Waldo!