This Week's Events at

Malaprop's Bookstore/Café

55 Haywood St., Asheville, NC 28801

828-254-6734 or 1-800-441-9829

www.malaprops.com

 

Friday, November 20 at 7PM:
Local historian George Ellison and his wife, watercolorist Elizabeth Ellison present Horace Kephart's "lost" novel, Smoky Mountain Magic, now in print for the first time 80 years after its completion. Kephart is the author of several classic regional books, including Our Southern Highlanders and Camping and Woodcraft. He, along with friend George Masa, was instrumental in establishing the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

 

Saturday, November 21 at 7PM:
George Ivey will read from and sign his book, Up River: A Novel of Attempted Restoration. Ivey explores themes of loss, recovery, and renewal through protagonist Peter Bailey's struggle to save the endangered Akwanee River.

 

Sunday, November 22

11AM: The Lee Bros. Cookbook Signing! Food and travel journalists Matt and Ted Lee will sign copies of their new cookbook, Simple Fresh Southern. The siblings are founders of The Lee Bros. Boiled Peanuts Catalogue, a mail-order catalogue featuring Southern pantry staples such as stone-ground grits, fig preserves, and, of course, boiled peanuts. The Lee Bros. are a lot of fun! Come by and meet them!

3PM: Peggy Tabor Millin will present her book, Women, Writing, and Soul-Making: Creativity and the Sacred Feminine. Millin looks at writing as a spiritual process.  She focuses on the unique challenges to creativity that women face in the modern world and  also offers techniques and encouragement to anyone seeking to unlock their creative inner selves.

 

Other News:
We're open till 6PM on Wednesday, November 25 (Thanksgiving Day eve) and reopen at 9AM on Friday, November 27.  Beginning Friday, November 27 and through Christmas, we are extending our Friday and Saturday hours, staying open till 10PM!

 

Starting Friday, November 20, we have a New Moon Special! Fans of the Twilight series, read on! Our children's bookbuyer, Caroline Green, selected twenty of her favorite new Young Adult titles in paranormal fantasy, fantasy, and general fiction for this promotion. Buy two books from her selection and receive a highly collectible, limited edition, The Twilight Saga bookbag for free! This red and black bookbag has a zipper top and side pocket, is lined and made of heavy duty canvas. It could easily work as a satchel as well as bookbag. We have only 33 bags, and they will go fast! I've read many of Caroline's choices for this promotion and loved them. She even includes Rampant, a funny and scary book about murderous unicorns (!) that Twilight fans will love. We are featuring the selection in a display as you walk in the store. You can also call in your choices, if you are desperate for one of those bags! Here are Caroline's New Moon Special Choices:

 

YA Paranormal Romance
1. The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
3. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
4. Fire by Kristin Cashore
5. Ruined by Paula Morris
6. Crazy Beautiful by Lauren Baratz-Logsted
7. Meridian by Amber Kizer
8. Ash by Malinda Lo
9. Rampant by Diana Peterfreund
10. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
11. Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick
And Others...
12. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
13. A Brief History of Montmaray by Michelle Cooper
14. Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen
15. Going Bovine by Libba Bray
16. The Demon King by Cinda Chima
17. The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
18. Ring of Fire by Pierdomenico Baccalario
19. Poisons of Caux by Susanna Applebaum
20. Powerless by Matthew Cody

 

 

I spent my weekend at the Lake Logan Retreat Center with members of a bookclub who now operate under a cloak of anonymity. I can say no more….

We sat together in silence and read, drank wine and talked endlessly about books, hiked in the woods, watched movies, and shared stories from our lives. Can you imagine anything more fun?  Thank you, ladies, for inviting me! I look forward to the mini-retreat in the spring.

 

This week's poem is by Robert Pinsky, from his collection, Gulf Music, pb., $14.00, Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

 

Akhmatova's "Summer Garden"

 

I want to return to that unique garden walled

By the most magnificent ironwork in the world

 

Where the statues remember me young and I remember

Them the year they were underwater

 

And in fragrant silence

Under a royal colonnade of lindens

 

I imagine the creaking of ships-masts and the swan

Floats across the centuries admiring its flawless twin.

 

Asleep there like the dead are hundreds of thousands

Of footfalls of friends and enemies, enemies and friends

 

The procession of those shades is endless

From the granite urn to the doorway of the palace

 

Where my white nights of those years whisper

About some love grand and mysterious

 

And everything glows like mother-of-pearl and jasper

Through the source of that light also is mysterious.

 

 

 

Enjoy your weekends!

Linda Barrett Knopp

lbarrettknopp@malaprops.com


 

 

 

 

 

This Week's Events at
Malaprop's Bookstore/Café

Sunday, September 20 at 3PM: Writers at Home. Join host Tommy Hays for our Writers at Home series. This month's featured authors are Cathy Smith Bowers and Christine Hale.

Thursday, September 24 at 7PM: Ed Southern will read from his debut fiction work, Parlous Angels. This collection of stories set in the North Carolina Piedmont focuses on the gains and losses from transition, and ponders the role that stories play from one generation to the next. Southern in the director of the North Carolina Writer's Network and the author of the nonfiction works, The Jamestown Adventure and Sports in the Carolinas.

Other News: Our event with Tomie dePaola has been cancelled due to illness. We do have limited edition stamped bookplates with Tomie's distinctive signature available with the purchase of any of his books here.

We are selling book/tickets fast and furiously to our events with Diana Gabaldon and Barbara Kingsolver. If you are considering attending either event, don't delay!!! Diana Gabaldon is reading at the Diana Wortham Theatre on Sunday, September 27 at 7PM. Purchase a copy of her new Outlander novel, An Echo in the Bone through Malaprop's and receive a ticket to attend. Please call the store, 828-254-6734, if you're interested, rather than emailing, so there is no delay in processing your order.

Barbara Kingsolver is reading at Asheville High on Monday, November 2 at 7PM from her new novel, The Lacuna. Purchase a copy of The Lacuna through Malaprop's and receive a ticket to attend.

On September 6, 2009, at 3:00 p.m., Malaprop's Bookstore/Café will
host a reading by five poets (see below) whose work is included in
SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN POETRY: AN ANTHOLOGY OF WORKS BY 37 POETS (Marita Garin, editor; McFarland, 2008): Hilda Downer, Gregory Dykes, Don Johnson, Mary Kratt, and Robert Morgan.  Beginning with the literary revival movement of the 1960s and 1970s in the mountains, authors of poems and autobiographical essays in this anthology explore Appalachian
traditions, as well as the impact on the culture of, and the subsequent tensions caused by, technological change.  The reading on September 6 is free and open to the public.

HILDA DOWNER was raised in Bandana, North Carolina, and now lives near
Boone.  Her book, BANDANA CREEK, was published when she was still in
college.  Her poems have appeared in many journals and anthologies,
and they have been included in stage productions celebrating North
Carolina poets and place.  She has taught English at Appalachian State
University and is a long-time member of the Southern Appalachian
Writers Cooperative and the NC Writers Conference.  She writes, "I
want to be considered a regional writer because every breath I take is
of and for Appalachia."

GREGORY DYKES lives in Asheville and is a native of Jonesborough,
Tennessee, where his family has lived since the 1790s.  He has taught
at Mars Hill College, Tusculum College, Western Carolina University
and Brevard College, and he also worked for a time as a journalist.
Currently an assistant professor of English at Northeast State
Community College in East Tennessee, he has contributed both prose and
poetry to a variety of publications, including The Asheville Poetry
Review.

Originally from West Virginia, DON JOHNSON is Professor of English and
Poet in Residence at East Tennessee State University.  The author of
THE SPORTING MUSE: A CRITICAL STUDY OF POEMS ABOUT ATHLETES AND
ATHLETICS (McFarland, 2004), he is also the editor of HUMMERS,
KNUCKLERS, AND SLOW CURVES.  Dr. Johnson's poems have been published
in two volumes, THE IMPORTANCE OF VISIBLE SCARS (Wampeter Press, 1984)
and WATAUGA DRAWDOWN (Overmountain, 1991).  A collection of new and
selected works, HERE AND GONE, was published in 2009 by Louisiana
Literature Press.

A native of West Virginia, MARY KRATT lives in Charlotte, North
Carolina.  She has seventeen published books of poetry, history, and
biography, and her poems have also appeared in a number of well-known
literary journals.  She is a fellow of the MacDowell Colony in
Peterborough, New Hampshire, and is twice winner of the Blumenthal
Writers and Readers Series.  In 1994, her work was recognized with the
Fortner Writer and Community Award from St. Andrews College. Her book
SMALL POTATOES won the Brockman/Campbell Book Award for poetry in
2000, and her SPIRIT GOING BAREFOOT won the Oscar Arnold Young poetry
book award.

A native of Western North Carolina, ROBERT MORGAN is one of our most
versatile writers.  He published BOONE, his biography of Daniel Boone, in
2007, and he has published several novels and numerous collections of
poetry, collections of short fiction, essays, articles, and interviews
on poetry.  He contributes to a variety of distinguished literary
journals, and his work has appeared in many anthologies.  He has
frequently been honored with author and book awards and with important
fellowships and grants.  Robert Morgan has served as a visiting
writing professor at several colleges and universities, and he is
currently Kappa Alpha Professor of English at Cornell University.  We
are delighted to welcome him back to read at Malaprop's Bookstore/Café!

PLEASE NOTE: In order to accommodate this special reading by poets
whose work appears in the SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN POETRY anthology, our
regular POETRIO event has been moved from the first Sunday to the
second Sunday of the month (that is, to September 13, 2009, at 3:00
p.m.) for this month only.  Please join us for both of our Sunday
afternoon poetry events in September!

SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN POETRY: AN ANTHOLOGY
Poets Hilda Downer, Gregory Dykes, Don Johnson, Mary Kratt, Robert Morgan
Sunday, September 6, 3:00 p.m.
Malaprop's Bookstore/Café
55 Haywood Street
Asheville, NC 28801
(828) 254-6734
www.malaprops.com

Contact Info for Every Event:

Malaprop’s Bookstore & Café
55 Haywood St.
Asheville, NC 28801
828-254-6734
www.malaprops.com

New Store Hours:
Monday-Saturday 9am-9pm
Sunday 9am-7pm

 

Saturday, September 5 at 7pm:
JOANNA SMITH RAKOFF READING
Author Joanna Smith Rakoff will read from and sign her debut novel, A Fortunate Age. It chronicles the coming of age for six Oberlin graduates struggling in New York City. Rakoff’s book, which has received critical acclaim for its deeply affecting cast, vividly describes the shifting relationships among her characters as they change before a backdrop of the era’s economic and political changes. Rakoff has written for a number of prestigious publications, including The New York Times, Vogue, and the Los Angeles Times.

 

Sunday, September 6 at 3pm:
ROBERT MORGAN AND FRIENDS: SOUTHERN APPALACHIAN POETRY READINGS
Celebrated author Robert Morgan, along with Hilda Downer, Don Johnson, Greg Dykes, and Mary Kratt, will present Southern Appalachian Poetry: An Anthology of Works by 37 Poets, edited by Marita Garin. This collection of poems and autobiographical essays explores the breadth of Appalachia, from its cherished traditions to the modern tensions brought about by technological change, and features some of the area’s most talented new voices in addition to some well-established favorites.

 

Monday, September 7 at 7pm:
BRIDGING DIFFERENCES BOOKCLUB
Join host Patti Digh and the Malaprop’s Bridging Differences Bookclub for a discussion of V.S. Naipaul’s A House for Mr. Biswas.

 

Tuesday, September 8 at 7pm:
MALAPROP’S BOOKCLUB
The Malaprop’s Bookclub, with host Mary Park Ford, will discuss Mudbound by Hillary Jordan.

 

Wednesday, September 9 at 7pm:
ETHAN GILSDORF READING
Malaprop’s welcomes author Ethan Gilsdorf, who will read from and sign his new book, Fantasy Freaks and Gaming Geeks: An Epic Quest for Reality Among Role Players, Online Gamers, and Other Dwellers of Imaginary Realms. Gilsdorf’s work weaves interviews with gamers from across the globe with the author’s own “geeky” past to explore what lures people to the fantastic world of gaming and how they reconcile the escapism with the responsibilities of adult life. Gilsdorf is a film critic for the Boston Globe and also teaches writing at Emerson College and Boston Grub Street, Inc.

 

Friday, September 11 at 7pm:
JOSH WEIL READING
Fulbright-winning author Josh Weil will present his book, The New Valley, a collection of linked novellas about the relationships of 3 very different protagonists who forge new lives for themselves in the rugged hill country of the Virginias. The New Valley has received critical praise from noted authors Tim O’Brien and Jim Harrisson and is an Editor’s Choice of The New York Times Book Review.  Weil, a native of Virginia, is the recipient of numerous fellowships and a frequent contributor to The New York Times.

 

Saturday, September 12 at 2pm:
KEITH DONNELLY BOOKSIGNING
Tennessee author Keith Donnelly will sign copies of his new book, Three Days Dead. In this latest addition to the Donald Youngblood mystery series, Youngblood, a private investigator, must help a troubled teen find her missing mother while dealing with complications from a past relationship.

 

Saturday, September 12 at 7pm:
STUART ALBRIGHT READING
Author Stuart Albright will read from and sign his book, Sidelines, a fascinating look at high school football and how it has shaped and supported nine North Carolina communities. Albright, a resident of Durham, NC, is an English and Creative Writing teacher at Jordan high School and the winner of the 2007 Milken National Educator Award.  Asheville and Cherokee are two of the featured communities, so be sure to welcome the fall season with this wonderful event!

 

Sunday, September 13 at 1pm:
REIF LARSEN READING
Malaprop’s is honored to welcome critically acclaimed author Reif Larsen, who will present his best-selling book, The Selected Works of T.S. Spivet. This incredibly beautiful story, which features a number of maps and illustrations credited to the protagonist, follows 12-year-old genius cartographer T.S. Spivet as he hobos his way from his family’s Montana ranch to the Smithsonian, where he is to receive the prestigious Baird Award. Along the way Spivet uncovers pieces of his family heritage and confronts the consequences of his sheltered life. Larsen currently teaches at Columbia University, where he is finishing his MFA in creative writing and working on his second novel.

 

Sunday, September 13 at 3pm:
POETRIO: 3 READINGS BY 3 POETS
Join us each month for our popular Poetrio readings. September’s featured poets are John Hoppenthaler, Terry Kirby Erickson, and Linda Annas Ferguson.

 

Monday, September 14 at 7pm:
STITCH-N-BITCH
Join crafty host Stacey Budge-Kamison for Malaprop’s monthly Stitch-N-Bitch. Bring your current projects, settle down with a warm cup of tea or coffee, and talk shop with some fabulous people! Crafters of all levels are welcome and selected craft books will be discounted!

 

 

Tuesday, September 15 at 7pm:
LITERARY TRIVIA NIGHT
Booker Prize winner John Banville has authored books under what pseudonym? Which recent New York Times bestseller combines the refined sensibilities of Jane Austen with the horrific comedy of the undead? Find out these answers and more at Malaprop’s Literary Trivia night hosted by Lauren and Stella Harr. Prizes will be awarded!

 

Wednesday, September 16 at 7pm:
TEACHER SALON
Malaprop's is reserving her cafe space for educators of all levels to meet and discuss lesson plans, classroom activities, and ideas for stress relief. Teachers, please come by for some free coffee and bonding with your colleagues!

 

Thursday, September 17 at 5:30pm:
WOMEN ON WORDS
New members are always welcome to our monthly women’s poetry group. Women on Words is a gathering where the members inspire and critique the presented poems.

 

Thursday, September 17 at 7pm:
SHARON SAKSON READING
Author Sharon Sakson will read from and sign copies of her book, Paws & Effect, which explores the healing power of dogs and the powerful bonds between human and canine. Thoroughly researched and well-presented, Paws & Effect presents moving stories of astonishing dogs from around the world, from cancer-sniffing canines to the brave service dogs in Iraq. Sakson, a journalist and television producer who has worked for a number of major TV networks including NBC and the Food Network, is also an American Kennel Club dog show judge and a breeder of champion Whippets and Brussels Griffons.

“Dogs are assisting people in all kinds of amazing ways. I am highly impressed by this well-written book. Paws & Effect is a great book for all dog lovers.”- Temple Grandin

 

Sunday, September 20 at 3pm:
WRITERS AT HOME
Join host author Tommy Hays for our Writers at Home Series. This month’s featured authors are Cathy Smith Bowers and Christine Hale.

 

Wednesday, September 23 at 7pm:
PATRICIA HARMAN READING
Author and nurse-midwife Patricia Harman will read from and sign her book, The Blue Cotton Gown: A Midwife’s Memoir, in which she offers fascinating glimpses of her life and lives of her patients in the small West Virginia women’s health clinic she operates with her husband. Harman has over 30 years experience as a midwife and has cared for women across the country. Her own stories are as insightful and inspiring as those of her patients, so be sure not to miss this amazing author.

 

Thursday, September 24 at 7pm:
ED SOUTHERN READING
Winston-Salem author Ed Southern will present his debut fiction work, Parlous Angels. This collection of stories set in the North Carolina Piedmont focuses on the gains and losses from transition, and ponders the role that stories play from one generation to the next. Southern is the director of the North Carolina Writers’ Network and the author the nonfiction works The Jamestown Adventure and Sports in the Carolinas.

 
“Ed Southern's stories are about hard work and hard times and what is required of a boy to become a man in such a place and time. They are also about class—that taboo subject in America—and about anger, love, and yearning. Carefully written, with the best dialogue I've read in years, these terrific and utterly original stories are made to last—like a stone pathway or a brick wall.” -Lee Smith, author of On Agate Hill and The Last Girls

 

Saturday, September 26 at 7pm:
TOMIE dePAOLA READING
Internationally celebrated author and illustrator Tomie dePaola visits Malaprop’s, where he will discuss his newest book, Strega Nona’s Harvest, which continues the humorous story of the mysterious and magical Strega Nona and her fellow villagers. DePaola is the author and/or illustrator of over 200 children’s books, among them our store favorites 26 Fairmont Avenue and Strega Nona Meets Her Match.  He has won an astounding number of awards, including the Caldecott Award, the Newberry Honor Award, and the New Hampshire Governor's Arts Award of Living Treasure. In addition to writing and illustrating books, dePaola has taught college art courses, worked as a set and costume designer for the Children’s Theater Project, and even tried his hand at acting.

“Tomie dePaola is one of the country's most popular illustrators for children, who greatly enjoy his recognizable characters and clean, stylized art form and respond to the energy and empathy expressed in both his ink and watercolor art and in his lively storytelling. Tomie dePaola's popularity and volume of work assure him prominence in the world of children's books. The variety, wit, and child appeal of his books should make a lasting contribution to the field.” –Children’s Books and Their Creators

 

Sunday, September 27 at 3pm:
CAROLE BOSTON WEATHERFORD READING
Poet and author Carole Boston Weatherford will read from and sign her young adult book, Becoming Billie Holiday, which uses a series of beautifully written biographical poems to present the life of jazz legend Eleanor “Billie” Holliday. The book earned a Coretta Scott King Honor Award and includes illustrations by noted artist Floyd Cooper. Weatherford, a professor at Fayetteville State University, has received a number of awards for her writing, including the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, an NAACP Image Award, and the Golden Kite Honor.

 

Sunday, September 27 at 7pm:
DIANA GABALDON READING
We are honored and, to be honest, extremely excited to once again welcome community favorite Diana Gabaldon to Asheville, where she will read from and sign copies of her book, An Echo in the Bone. This latest addition to the bestselling Outlander series finds time travelers Jamie Fraser and Claire Randall immersed in the 18th century American Revolution while their daughter and her husband, living in the present day Scottish Highlands, unravel the secret of their family’s past, and its fate, through a series of Claire’s letters.

In addition to the Outlander series, Gabaldon is the author of the popular Lord John novels, which chronicle the adventures of a favorite secondary character from the original series.

“With stunning cameos of historical characters from Benedict Arnold to Benjamin Franklin, An Echo in the Bone is a soaring masterpiece of imagination, insight, character, and adventure–a novel that echoes in the mind long after the last page is turned.”
- from the publisher

This is a ticketed event that will take place at the Diana Wortham Theatre at 2 South Pack Square, Asheville. Doors will open at 6:30 pm and tickets are only available from Malaprop’s Bookstore/Café. Please see a bookseller for more details or call us at 1-800-441-9829.

 

 

 

This Week's Events at
Malaprop's Bookstore/Café
55 Haywood St., Asheville, NC 28801
828-254-6734 or 1-800-441-9829
www.malaprops.com

 
Saturday, August 1 at 7PM: Denise Giardina Reading.
Malaprop's welcomes celebrated author Denise Giardina, who will present her new novel, Emily's Ghost. This reimagining of the Bronte family revolves around the passion of Emily Bronte and her relationship with an idealistic young clergyman. Giardina, the writer in residence at West Virginia State University, is also a deacon in the Episcopal Church and an activist for land reform and social justice in the Appalachian mining community.

 
Sunday, August 2 at 3PM: Poetrio.
Our three poets reading series features Greg McBride, Felicia Mitchell, and Gene Fehler.

 
Malaprop's closes early at 5PM on Sunday, August 2 to celebrate the wedding of booksellers Gina Glenn and Matt Moon. Gina and Matt met through their work at Malaprop's and, appropriately and romantically enough, will be married in the bookstore! We will post pictures of the wedding on our website as soon as possible. Congratulations, Gina and Matt Moon!!!! We all wish you the happiest of marriages.

 

Thomas Pynchon's Inherent Vice goes on sale August 4th.  If you would like to reserve a copy, let us know! Pynchon's novel received a great review from Alan Cheuse on NPR last night.

 
This week's poem is by Jim Harrison from his collection, In Search of Small Gods, Copper Canyon Press, $22.00.

 
"Goat Boy"

 
I no longer lead my life. I'm led.
The sexuality of insects tells us that intentional
life is a hoax but the gods tell us
that we are also gods. The sun kindly rises
on the snoring goat out by the barn.
He'll only do what he wants to do.
He eats potato peels and stares at the rising moon.
I believe in my calling like he believes in the moon.
How else could I see clearly at night?
We are nature, too, and some of us do less well
In this invented world, or if we do well for a while
There is that backward stare from these overplowed fields
To the wild woodlot and creek in the distance.
At seven I went out to play and was lost in the woods
For a day and never understood the way back home.

 

Enjoy your weekends!

Linda Barrett Knopp
lbarrettknopp@malaprops.com

 

This Week's Events
Malaprop's Bookstore/Café
55 Haywood St., Asheville, NC 28801
828-254-6734 or 1-800-441-9829
www.malaprops.com

 
Bele Chere, Asheville's annual downtown festival, begins Friday at noon and lasts all weekend. Malaprop's and our sister store, Downtown Books & News, share a booth on Haywood St., just across from Malaprop's. This year's festival promises to be a bit smaller, and likely more relaxed and fun. Come visit us!

Every year the Peace Corps sets up a table in front of our store during Bele Chere. Representatives will be at the table from 12-5PM on Friday, 11-5PM on Saturday, and 12-3PM on Sunday.

This week's poem is by Brendan Galvin, from his collection, Whirl is King: Poems from a Life List, Louisiana State University Press, pb., $17.95.

 
A Footnote to Power

 
On a day so still you might think
That saying wind out loud
Could start a crack the equinox
Would ooze golden from,
I found a bolt on Corn Hill Road,

And weighed it in my hand,
Feeling its otherworldly cold,
As though it had dropped
From the undercarriage of a cloud,

And listened to the nuthatch
Telegraph in bushes whose maroon haze
Signified their readiness
To begin again, a few natural egg cups
Woven in them here and there,
Abandoned but waiting.

Thick as my thumb and longer
Than any teacup-sized warbler's nest
Is deep, that heavy-duty piece
Had an octagonal head on it

Larger than any resting place
A hummingbird might bind
To the merest knuckle
Of an apple tree, a steel bolt shaken
To unthreading, and fallen.

 

Enjoy your weekends!

Linda Barrett Knopp
lbarrettknopp@malaprops.com