Wednesday, March 2 at 7 pm
ARIEL LAWHON READING & SIGNING
Ariel Lawhon’s new book, Flight of Dreams, is a historical novel set during the doomed flight of the Hindenberg, which ended in a deadly crash after three days. Ariel creates vibrant characters based on real passengers and weaves a novel of mystery and “airborne intrigue,” according to Kirkus Reviews. Filled with “clever banter, elaborate plot twists, and period detail” (Library Journal), it’s a suspenseful read that brings history to life. Ariel is the author of The Wife, the Maid, and the Mistress and the cofounder of SheReads.org.
Thursday, March 3 at 7 pm
SOHO PRESS CELEBRATION WITH LENE KAABERBØL AND AGNETE FRIIS
We will be joined by two of the preeminent mystery writers published by imprint Soho Press as they celebrate The Considerate Killer, the final installment in their Nina Borg series that began with The Boy in the Suitcase. This is the all-time bestselling series published by Soho, and it has been praised for its “seamless weaving of psychological depth and rocket-paced plotting” (Lisa Unger). NPR’s John Powers recognizes Nina Borg as belonging to “the sisterhood of run-amok heroines like Homeland’s Carrie Mathison and Lisbeth Salander.” The authors will be joined by the publisher, associate publisher, and marketing and promotion director of Soho and we’ll be celebrating with refreshments and other fun!
Friday, March 4 at 7 pm
BRYAN ROBINSON IN CONVERSATION WITH JOE D’AGNESE
Join us to celebrate the paperback release of local mystery author Bryan Robinson’s Limestone Gumption: A Brad Pope and Sisterfriends Mystery. In this fast-paced novel, the idyllic town of Whitecross, FL, is shaken up after the murder of a cave diver, and protagonist Brad Pope is the prime suspect. Filled with humor and thrills, it’s “multigenerational with spunky oldsters…genial banter, and colorful characters” (Library Journal). Joe D’Agnese, the local author of Marshal of the Borgo, Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci, and others, will be leading the lively discussion!
Saturday, March 5 at 3 pm
V.E. SCHWAB with guests JESSICA KHOURY, RYAN GRAUDIN, DELILAH DAWSON & BETH REVIS
This panel brings together some of the best voices in YA and adult fantasy and speculative fiction as we celebrate the latest from V. E. Schwab. Schwab’s new novel, A Darker Shade of Magic, is a fantasy set across universes that follows the adventures of smuggler Kell and thief Lila as they search for a mysterious “Black London.” It’s a “fast-paced adventure, with [a] complex magic system, thoughtful hero and bold heroine” (Kirkus Reviews). Jessica Khoury’s The Forbidden Wish is a YA reimagining of Aladdin, Ryan Graudin’s Wolf by Wolf tells the story of shape-shifter Yael, and Delilah Dawson’s recent books Servants of the Storm and Hitfeature Savannah teens dealing with demons and an indentured assassin. Acclaimed YA author Beth Revis will moderate the discussion. Beth Revis, author of Paper Hearts and the Across the Universe series, will moderate.
Saturday, March 5 at 6 pm
THE GIRL WHO RACED FAIRYLAND ALL THE WAY HOME LAUNCH PARTY
Our day of fantasy continues as we welcome back one of our favorite authors to host—Catherynne Valente! Catherynne is celebrating the release of The Girl Who Raced Fairyland All the Way Home, the fifth in her magical Fairyland series. The book follows protagonist September, who has been crowned Queen of Fairyland, as she strives to save a kingdom thrown into chaos. Neil Gaiman raves that the series is “a glorious balancing act between Modernism and the Victorian fairy tale,” and Kirkus Reviews notes that “readers may wish the words were food, so they could eat them up.” Please join us for games, treats, and fairy fun at 6 pm, followed by the reading and signing at 7 pm. Prepare to enter Fairyland and feel free to come in costume!
Sunday, March 6 at 11 am
CYNTHIA SURRISI LAUNCH PARTY & SIGNING
Local author Cynthia Surrisi will be here to celebrate her new middle grade book, The Maypop Kidnapping. The novel introduces us to the clever, curious Quinnie Boyd, who is convinced that her tutor in the small town of Maiden Rock, Maine, has been kidnapped when she doesn’t show up on the first day of school. Quinnie goes on a quest to find the missing Ms. Stillford with the help of a cast of charming characters, including her crush Ben, the cosmopolitan Mariella, and a host of other eccentric and amusing new friends. Kirkus Reviews praises the book as “a delightful cozy mystery, snugly mixing intrigue and humor, with an unpredictable and satisfying resolution.”
Sunday, March 6 at 3 pm
POETRIO
Join us for our monthly series of readings and signings by 3 poets at 3 pm! This month will feature Adrian Rice (Hickory Station), Vievee Francis (Forest Primeval), and Jonathan K. Rice (Killing Time).
Monday, March 7 at 7 pm
TRAVIS MULHAUSER READING & SIGNING
Travis Mulhauser will share his novel Sweetgirl, a bitter, poignant, and humorous coming-of-age novel that follows the spirited teenage narrator Percy James as she searches for her missing mother in the drug-filled town of Shelton Potter, Michigan. She finds, instead, a neglected baby girl that needs her help. But to save the baby and herself, she has to enlist a cast of characters who must face their own tragedies and find redemption. Booklist praises the novel as “an acute study of lives lived at the margins,” and Ron Rash notes that the book is “a gritty, compelling novel…Mulhauser depicts his people and their landscape with uncompromising fidelity.”
Wednesday, March 9 at 7 pm
TEGAN WREN AND SAMANTHA BRYANT READING & SIGNING
March is Women’s History Month! Join us for a night with two authors tackling women’s issues. Tegan Wren will discuss her book Inconceivable!, which follows the courtship and marriage of brassy journalist heroine Hatty and her love, the royal Prince John. Ever Upward calls it a “romantic novel with a heartbreakingly real infertility twist.” Samantha Bryant will share Going Through the Change, a humorous look at menopause in the vein of a superhero story. After four women encounter a mad scientist, their menopausal experiences become very strange indeed as one acquires the ability to fly, another becomes fire-proof, and a third becomes a man. Author Brian Rush praises the novel’s “superior characterization and concept.”
Thursday, March 10 at 6:30 pm
ZELDA FITZGERALD DAY
In conjunction with Aurora Studio & Gallery, Malaprop’s is celebrating our first annual Zelda Fitzgerald Day! We are commemorating the iconic Zelda Fitzgerald, her legendary life, and her connection to Asheville with readings and more. Stay tuned for details of this exciting event!
Friday, March 11 at 7 pm
JIM GRIMSLEY READING & SIGNING
Atlanta author Jim Grimsley joins us to discuss How I Shed My Skin: Unlearning the Racist Lessons of a Southern Childhood. This deeply affecting memoir traces Jim’s early realizations that the beliefs passed down to him about racial difference were deeply wrong. It’s also an examination of how ideas of race have evolved since de-segregation, and a searing look at just how far we have to go. “Layer by layer, young Grimsley sheds his deepest beliefs, prime among them that white skin bestows superiority . . . A must-read book” (The Charlotte Observer ). Jim is the author of four previous novels, including Winter Birds, a PEN/Hemingway Award finalist.
Saturday, March 12 at 7 pm
BRYCE PALMYRA DISCUSSION & SIGNING
In Things to Bring My Family When I Die: A Go-To Guide for the Southern Chef, teen author Bryce Palmyra offers a hilarious, upbeat, and poignant cookbook for making funeral food. The recipes are easy and delicious and the writing is highly entertaining and Bryce is recognized as the best teen chef in his hometown in Avery County. Bryce donates a portion of sales to the charity Hopes Makes a Difference.
Sunday, March 13 at 3 pm
MATT CASHION READING & SIGNING
Matt Cashion’s new book, Last Words of the Holy Ghost, a recipient of the 2015 Katherine Anne Porter Prize for Short Fiction, is a compilation of twelve short stories that follow a cast of dynamic, genuine characters. “A sublime collection that uses compassion and subtle humor to capture heavy moments in lives lived on the margins” (Kirkus Reviews). Informed by the Southern Gothic genre and by the kaleidoscope of human experience, it’s a moving book that’s gathering praise from every corner. Matt grew up in North Carolina and Georgia and now makes his home in Wisconsin.
Monday, March 14 at 7 pm
ANNIE NOVAK DISCUSSION & SIGNING
Annie Novak joins us to discuss her book The Rooftop Growing Guide: How to Transform Your Roof into a Vegetable Garden or Farm. Annie, who is the founder of the first commercial green roof row farm (Eagle Street Rooftop Farm in Brooklyn) brings her practical, easy, and stylish advice to new urban gardeners, walking readers through soil maintenance, watering, crop management, and landscaping. Annie is also the manager of the Edible Academy at the New York Botanical Garden, as well as the founder and director of Growing Chefs, which, according to their website, offers “food education from field to fork” that “connect[s] people to food, from the soil to the kitchen.”
Wednesday, March 16 at 7 pm
MELISSA BURCH READING & SIGNING
We are excited to host an event with Melissa Burch, whose memoir, My Journey Through War and Peace, tells the tremendous story of her experiences as a documentary filmmaker in Afghanistan and the former Soviet Union during times of extreme sociocultural shifts. The book details not only the story of these places, but also of Melissa’s own growth and self-discovery (she was only 20 when she went to Afghanistan to film the Mujahideen) as she began the path of a personal and spiritual revolution. Kirkus Reviews raves that she writes “with sensitivity and vivid clarity about her evolving self” in this “absorbing, well-written memoir by a brave adventurer who discovered her own life.” Melissa has worked as a filmmaker, writer, editor, producer, and journalist for the BBC, CNN, and other news networks.
Thursday, March 17 at 7 pm
DANA CARPENTER AND ERICA WRIGHT DISCUSSION & SIGNING
This double-author event features Dana Carpenter, author of Bohemian Gospel, and Erica Wright, author of The Granite Moth. Dana’s book is a gripping fantasy-historical novel set in 13th-century Bohemia. Kirkus Reviews says it “does a great job of interweaving history with mythology and the supernatural” and “brings the Dark Ages to strange and bewitching life” through its tale of the magically gifted young heroine, Mouse. Erica will discuss her second novel, a mystery that follows private investigator Kathleen Stone as she tries to unravel the sinister goings-on surrounding the deaths of several of New York City’s drag queens. Jim Fusilli praises the book as “a gift to devotees of classical private-eye novels as well as to contemporary crime fiction.”
Friday, March 18 at 7 pm
NICOLE SARROCCO READING & SIGNING
NC author Nicole Sarrocco brings her newest book, Ill-Mannered Ghosts, to Malaprop’s! The second in her series of “Occasionally True Novels,” the work continues Nicole’s narrative exploration of “finding grace in chaos, creating meaning from nonsense, and for heaven’s sake not making too much of a spectacle of yourself” (Chatwin Press). All of the three books in this series were written by Nicole during National Novel Writing Month! Nicole teaches Humanities at NCSSM and she is the author of Lit by Lightning and the poetry collection Karate Bride.
Saturday, March 19 at 7 pm
BRIAN FREEMAN READING & SIGNING
Suspense novelist Brian Freeman brings us his thrilling Goodbye to the Dead, the tale of Detective Jonathan Stride and his lover, Serena Dial, who must battle the living and the dead to connect the dots between two seemingly unrelated murder cases. Brian is a recipient of a Macavity Award, and his book Spilled Blood won Best Hardcover Novel in the annual Thriller Awards. His work has been praised for its “scorching suspense” (The Star Tribune).
Sunday, March 20 at 3 pm
WRITERS AT HOME READING SERIES
Join host Tommy Hays for the monthly reading series featuring work from UNCA’s Great
Smokies Writing Program and The Great Smokies Review.
Monday, March 21 at 7 pm
WRITER’S COFFEEHOUSE WITH JAKE BIBLE
Join us from 7-9 pm for the Asheville/WNC Writers Coffeehouse, a monthly meeting where area writers come together to discuss the business of writing, gather shared knowledge, and network. The meeting is open to writers of all experience levels, whether you’re a New York Times-bestselling author or someone just thinking about picking up a pen and putting it to paper. Come and spend time with like-minded people that love the art and business of writing.
Tuesday, March 22 at 7 pm
LIBBY WARE READING & SIGNING
Libby Ware celebrates her debut novel, Lum, which just won the ALA Stonewall Book Award. Set against the historical events of the Great Depression and the Blue Ridge Parkway’s construction, it’s the story of intersex Lum, whose struggles to find a home with family and in the larger world are set down in this “startlingly good debut novel” (Atlanta Magazine). Author Ann Hite celebrates Libby’s “rich new southern voice [that] capture[s] the dying art of storytelling.” Libby grew up in and around the Blue Ridge Mountains. She owns Toadlily Books in Atlanta, which specializes in antiquarian texts.
Wednesday, March 23 at 7 pm
ERIK LARSON IN CONVERSATION WITH DENISE KIERNAN TICKETED EVENT
Known for his compelling narrative nonfiction like Devil in the White City and In the Garden of Beasts, Erik Larson will discuss his seventh book, Dead Wake. The book, which reconstructs the final voyage of the Lusitania, is, according to Booklist, an engrossing “grade-A thriller.” Erik tells the story of the ship and its passengers in “extraordinarly compelling prose” that also gives an accurate picture of historical events (Shelf Awareness). He will discuss the book, his research, and more with Asheville’s own Denise Kiernan, author of The Girls of Atomic City. The $17 ticket includes a paperback copy of Dead Wake. This event is co-sponsored by UNCA’s Great Smokies Writing Program and will take place at UNCA’s Humanities Lecture Hall.
Thursday, March 24 at 7 pm
WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? PRE-PERFORMANCE WARM-UP
In preparation for The Immediate Theater Project and NC Stage’s production of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf by Edward Albee, Malaprop’s is excited to host a night of lively banter, food, and festivities! We will be joined by Willie Repoley and Hans Meyer of The Immediate Theater Project, and other guests TBD, as they discuss the play and bringing the page to the stage.
Tuesday, March 29 at 7 pm
MATTHEW GRIFFIN READING & SIGNING
Hide is Matthew Griffin’s powerful debut novel of gay identity in a North Carolina mill town after the end of WWII. The story of Wendell Wilson and his partner, WWII veteran Frank Clifton, it tracks their lives after Frank suffers a stroke and Wendell must assume the role of caretaker in a society that forces them into secrecy. According to Booklist, it’s a “bittersweet portrait of love in the shadows.” Kirkus Reviews praises it as “deliberately paced, thoughtful . . . assured . . . [and] genuine.” Matthew grew up in North Carolina and teaches at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. He is also the Director of Community Support and Evangelism at Adafruit Industries.
Wednesday, March 30 at 7 pm
KEITH MORRIS READING & SIGNING
In Keith Morris’s latest novel, Travelers Rest, a family encounters the strange town of Good Night, Id., where they may be trapped forever if they fail to navigate the uncanny setting. Kirkus Reviews calls it “Alice in Wonderland meets The Shining . . . [a] weighty, suspenseful, and even witful [novel].” Booklist praises the story as “generat[ing] some genuine chills . . . [the] writing is what makes the story really scary.” Keith is the author of The Greyhound God and The Dart League King and was a recipient of the Eudora Welty Prize in Fiction. He teaches creative writing at Clemson University.