The Friends Blog

Linda LeGarde Grover closes the series by sharing her powerful debut novel of love, hardship, and family bonds: The Road Back to Sweetgrass. The book follows a trio of American Indian women, from the 1970s to the present, observing their lives intersect on the fictional Mozhay Point reservation. Grover connects the sense of place with the experience…

The Life We Bury Author Allen Eskens adds some literary chills to the series when he reads from his twisting and evocative mystery The Life We Bury, called a “masterful debut” in a starred review by Publisher’s Weekly. When college-student Joe Talbert’s writing assignment introduces him to a convicted murderer, he has no idea that it will send…

Writer and comedian Lorna Landvik joins the series to read from her new novel, Best to Laugh, which follows her latest irresistible character, Candy Pekkala, from Minnesota to Hollywood as she pursues her dream of becoming a comedian. Landvik taps her own adventurous past as a comic performer and writes in her classic style—sometimes so funny,…

Wang Ping and James Lenfestey return to the Fireside Series for an exploration of China through poetry and prose. Wang’s latest collection of poetry, Ten Thousand Waves, gives us the voices of Chinese farmers and factory laborers, revolutionaries, writers, artists and craftsmen. Inspired by the work of a T’ang Dynasty poet, Lenfestey chronicles his trek to China’s…

William Swanson joins the series to discuss his new book, Stolen from the Garden, the thrilling true crime story of the 1972 abduction of Virginia Piper, one of the largest kidnap-for-ransom cases in the history of the FBI. Drawing on government documents and exclusive interviews with family members, the book provides the first comprehensive account of the sensational kidnapping and its long, eventful…

Novelist Marlon James kicks off the series with a reading from his new book, A Brief History of Seven Killings. Described by the New York Times as “sweeping, mythic, over-the-top, colossal and dizzyingly complex,” James’ new book uses the 1976 assassination attempt on Bob Marley as a springboard to explore Jamaican society and culture.  James teaches creative writing and English…