“From apparent influences as disparate as George Saunders, Saki, Stephen King, Carson McCullers and Joy Williams, [Russell] has fashioned a quirky, textured voice that is thoroughly her own: lyrical and funny, fantastical and meditative.”–Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times
“One of the most innovative, inspired short-story collections in the past decade. . . . There’s absolutely no living author quite like Karen Russell.” –Michael Schaub, NPR
The author of the acclaimed short story collection St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves and the New York Times best seller and Pulitzer Prize finalist Swamplandia! delivers her best work yet, a virtuosic new story collection that finds her delving into dark new territory with her trademark exuberance and invention.
In VAMPIRES IN THE LEMON GROVE: AND OTHER STORIES a dejected teenager believes that the universe is communicating with him through talismanic objects left behind in a seagull’s nest. Girls held captive in a silk factory slowly transmute into human silkworms, spinning delicate threads from their own bellies and escaping by seizing the means of production for their own revolutionary ends. A massage therapist discovers she has the power to heal by manipulating the tattoos on a war veteran’s torso. And in the collection’s marvelous title story, two vampires in a sun-drenched lemon grove try helplessly to slake their thirst for blood.
About the Author:
Karen Russell is one of today’s most celebrated writers — honored in The New Yorker’s list of the twenty best writers under the age of forty, Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists, and the National Book Foundation’s five best writers under the age of thirty-five.
Three of her short stories have been selected for the Best American Short Stories volumes. “Proving Up” was a recipient of a National Magazine Award. She is a graduate of the Columbia MFA program and a 2012 Fellow at the American Academy in Berlin.
Purchasing Tickets:
The event is being held at Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café 55 Haywood St., Asheville NC 28801 at 7pm on February 28, 2014. Tickets may be purchased by calling Malaprop’s at (828)254-6734 or online at www.malaprops.com. Tickets to the event are $10 and include a coupon for $5 off of VAMPIRES IN THE LEMON GROVE. A booksigning and wine and cheese reception will follow the event.
Sponsors:
Vintage Books of Knopf Doubleday Publishing House
Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café
Great Smokies Writing Program