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SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: The Book of Lost Friends by Lisa Wingate (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join us on Thursday\, May 28th at 7 p.m. for a special evening with Lisa Wingate\, author of The Book of Lost Friends. SPECIAL LOST & FOUND EVENT! Join Lisa Wingate and special guest Diane Plauche\, of the Historic New Orleans Collection\, in conversation with author Kristy Woodson Harvey about a fascinating and little-known facet of American life. \nLouisiana\, 1875: In the tumultuous aftermath of Reconstruction\, three young women set off as unwilling companions on a perilous quest: Lavinia\, the pampered heir to a now-destitute plantation; Juneau Jane\, her illegitimate free-born Creole half-sister; and Hannie\, Lavinia’s former slave. Each carries private wounds and powerful secrets as they head for Texas\, following dangerous roads rife with ruthless vigilantes and soldiers still fighting a war lost a decade before. For Lavinia and Juneau Jane\, the journey is one of inheritance and financial desperation\, but for Hannie\, torn from her mother and eight siblings before slavery’s end\, the pilgrimage westward reignites an agonizing question: Could her long-lost family still be out there? Beyond the swamps lie the seemingly limitless frontiers of Texas and\, improbably\, hope. \nLouisiana\, 1987: For first-year teacher Benedetta Silva\, a subsidized job at a poor rural school seems like the ticket to canceling her hefty student debt—until she lands in Augustine\, Louisiana. The tiny\, out-of-step Mississippi River town seems suspicious of new ideas and new people\, and Benny can hardly comprehend the lives of her poverty-stricken students. But amid the gnarled live oaks and rundown plantation homes lies the century-old history of three young women\, a long-ago journey\, and a hidden book that could change everything. \nLisa Wingate is a former journalist\, an inspirational speaker\, and the author of numerous novels\, including the #1 New York Times bestseller Before We Were Yours\, which has sold more than 2.2 million copies. The co-author\, with Judy Christie\, of the nonfiction book\, Before and After\, Wingate is a two-time ACFW Carol Award winner\, a Christy Award nominee\, an Oklahoma Book Award finalist\, and a Southern Book Prize winner. She lives with her husband in North Texas. \nDiane Plauche is a volunteer with the Historic New Orleans Collection museum. In 2015\, she began assisting the museum in creating a database of historical Lost Friends advertisements\, through which formerly enslaved people desperately tried to find their lost families in the decades following emancipation. After reading Lisa Wingate’s 2017 novel\, Before We Were Yours\, Diane wrote to Lisa about the Lost Friends ads\, saying\, “There is a story in each one of the ads.” To date\, Diane has entered over 2500 unique ads\, and tens of thousands of names in the museum’s database\, preserving the histories of thousands of families. Diane’s work\, and the stories of the real-life Lost Friends inspired Lisa’s newest novel\, The Book Of Lost Friends. \nKristy Woodson Harvey is the bestselling author and the winner of the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing. Her novel Lies and Other Acts of Love was a finalist for the Southern Book Prize. Her work has been optioned for film and her books have received numerous accolades. Read more about Kristy \n\nTo shop ALL the books in the Reader Meet Writer Series\, click on the image below!
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-the-book-of-lost-friends-by-lisa-wingate-virtual-event/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Reading,Virtual Author Event
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ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200527T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200527T160000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200522T061712Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200522T061712Z
UID:2583-1590591600-1590595200@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: Pale by Edward Farmer (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join us on Wednesday\, May 27th at 3 p.m. for an engaging discussion with Edward Farmer\, author of the new novel\, Pale. Farmer is a native of Memphis\, Tennessee\, where he journaled and cultivated stories his entire childhood. He is a graduate of Amherst College with a degree in English and psychology\, and recipient of the MacArthur-Leithauser Travel Award for creative writing. He currently lives and writes in Pasadena\, California. \nPALE: The summer of 1966 burned hot across America\, but nowhere hotter than the cotton fields of Mississippi. Finding herself in a precarious position\, a black woman accepts her brother’s invitation to join him as a servant for a white family where she enters a web of hostility and deception. With a dazzling new voice of emotional tension\, Pale explores how quickly humanity can fade and return us to our primal ways. \n\n\n\nTo shop ALL the books in the Reader Meet Writer Series\, click on the image below!\n \n\n\n\n\n\n+ Google Calendar
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-pale-by-edward-farmer-virtual-event/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Reading,Virtual Author Event
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ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200526T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200526T180000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200522T055640Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200522T055640Z
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SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: The Boys of Alabama by Genevieve Hudson (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join us Tuesday\, May 26th at 5 p.m. for a special talk with Genevieve Hudson\, author of the newly released Boys of Alabama. \nO\, The Oprah Magazine • “31 LGBTQ Books That’ll Change the Literary Landscape in 2020” | Lit Hub • “Most Anticipated Books by LGBTQ Authors For the First Half of 2020”\n“A gripping\, uncanny\, and queer exploration of being a boy in America\, told with detail that dazzles and disturbs.” ―Michelle Tea\, author of Against Memoir \nIn this bewitching debut novel\, a sensitive teen\, newly arrived in Alabama\, falls in love\, questions his faith\, and navigates a strange power. While his German parents don’t know what to make of a South pining for the past\, shy Max thrives in the thick heat. Taken in by the football team\, he learns how to catch a spiraling ball\, how to point a gun\, and how to hide his innermost secrets. \nMax already expects some of the raucous behavior of his new\, American friends―like their insatiable hunger for the fried and cheesy\, and their locker room talk about girls. But he doesn’t expect the comradery―or how quickly he would be welcomed into their world of basement beer drinking. In his new canvas pants and thickening muscles\, Max feels like he’s “playing dress-up.” That is until he meets Pan\, the school “witch\,” in Physics class: “Pan in his all black. Pan with his goth choker and the gel that made his hair go straight up.” Suddenly\, Max feels seen\, and the pair embarks on a consuming relationship: Max tells Pan about his supernatural powers\, and Pan tells Max about the snake poison initiations of the local church. The boys\, however\, aren’t sure whose past is darker\, and what is more frightening―their true selves\, or staying true in Alabama. \nWriting in verdant and visceral prose that builds to a shocking conclusion\, Genevieve Hudson “brilliantly reinvents the Southern Gothic\, mapping queer love in a land where God\, guns\, and football are king” (Leni Zumas\, author of Red Clocks ). Boys of Alabama becomes a nuanced portrait of masculinity\, religion\, immigration\, and the adolescent pressures that require total conformity. \nGenevieve Hudson is the author of the novel Boys of Alabama: a novel (2020)\, which O\, the Oprah Magazine\, Ms Magazine and Lit Hub selected as a recommended book to read in 2020. Other books include the critical memoir A Little in Love with Everyone (2018)\, and Pretend We Live Here: Stories ( 2018)\, which was a LAMBDA Literary Award finalist and named a Best Book of 2018 by Entropy. \nTo shop ALL the books in the Reader Meet Writer Series\, click on the image below!
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-the-boys-of-alabama-by-genevieve-hudson-virtual-event/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Reading,Virtual Author Event
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ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200521T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200521T160000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200517T051428Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200517T051428Z
UID:2562-1590073200-1590076800@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: Yaffa S. Santos with A Taste of Sage (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join us via Zoom on Thursday\, May 21st at 3 p.m. when Yaffa S. Santos will discuss her acclaimed new novel\, A Taste of Sage. \nA Taste of Sage Harper Paperbacks | May 19\, 2020 | To read a free preview chapter\, CLICK HERE!\nFrom talented new writer\, Yaffa S. Santos\, comes A Taste of Sage\, an unforgettable\, heartwarming\, and hilarious rom-com about chefs\, love\, and self-discovery that is the perfect cross between The Hating Game and Sweetbitter. \nLumi Santana is a passionate chef with the gift of synesthesia—she can perceive a person’s emotions just by tasting their cooking. Inspired by a mix of Dominican cuisines\, Lumi opens Caraluna\, a nontraditional fusion restaurant in Inwood\, NY\, only to succumb to financial struggles shortly after. Julien Dax\, a celebrated chef known for his acid tongue and brilliant smile\, is dedicated to the faultless preparation of classic French cuisine\, offering no room for personal flair at his successful\, midtown Manhattan restaurant\, DAX. \nWhen both restauranteurs meet at a catering gig\, Lumi is struck by Julien’s ravishing looks while Julien is excited by her firecracker tongue. Lumi is quickly turned off by Julien’s critiques of her passion-filled dishes but feels she is left with no other choice but to take a position as a sous chef at his staid\, traditional French restaurant when the opportunity presents itself. \nIrritated by his smug attitude\, Lumi silently vows to never taste Julien’s cooking. However\, as time passes\, Lumi finds herself yearning for the mouthwatering dishes created by Julien’s strong hands\, each dish more tempting than the last. The overwhelming aromas and gorgeous presentations entice Lumi to sneak a bite\, but she isn’t prepared for the feelings that will follow\, complicating her love life and her professional plans. \nYaffa S. Santos was born and raised in New Jersey. A solo trip to Dominican Republic in her teenage years changed her relationship to her Dominican heritage and sparked a passion for cooking and its singular ability to bring people together. Yaffa is a graduate of Sarah Lawrence College\, where she studied writing and visual art. She is a member of the Romance Writers of America (RWA). She has lived in New York\, Philadelphia\, Santo Domingo\, and now lives in Florida with her family. \n\nTo shop ALL the books in the Reader Meet Writer Series\, click on the image below!
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-yaffa-s-santos-with-a-taste-of-sage-virtual-event/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Reading,Virtual Author Event
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ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200520T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200520T160000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200517T042755Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200517T063134Z
UID:2552-1589986800-1589990400@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: Carter Sickels Discusses The Prettiest Star (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join us Wednesday\, 3 p.m. to meet Carter Sickels\, author of the novel The Evening Hour. He is the recipient of the 2013 Lambda Literary Emerging Writer Award\, and has been awarded scholarships to Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference\, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference\, VCCA\, and the MacDowell Colony. His essays and fiction have appeared in various publications\, including Guernica\, Bellevue Literary Review\, and BuzzFeed. Carter is Assistant Professor of English at Eastern Kentucky University\, where he teaches in the Bluegrass Writers Studio Low-Residency MFA program. \nThe Prettiest Star Publisher: Hub City Press | May 19\, 2020 | 9781938235627\nSmall-town Appalachia doesn’t have a lot going for it\, but it’s where Brian is from\, where his family is\, and where he’s chosen to return to die. \nSet in 1986\, a year after Rock Hudson’s death brought the news of AIDS into living rooms and kitchens across America\, Lambda Literary award-winning author Carter Sickels’s second novel shines light on an overlooked part of the epidemic\, those men who returned to the rural communities and families who’d rejected them. \nSix short years after Brian Jackson moved to New York City in search of freedom and acceptance\, AIDS has claimed his lover\, his friends\, and his future. With nothing left in New York but memories of death\, Brian decides to write his mother a letter asking to come back to the place\, and family\, he was once so desperate to escape. \nThe Prettiest Star is told in a chorus of voices: Brian’s mother Sharon; his fourteen-year-old sister\, Jess\, as she grapples with her brother’s mysterious return; and the video diaries Brian makes to document his final summer. \nCarter Sickels’s stunning novel is an urgent story about the politics and fragility of the body\, of sex and shame. Above all\, The Prettiest Star explores the bounds of family and redemption. It is written at the far reaches of love and understanding\, centering on the moments where those two forces stretch toward each other and sometimes touch. \n\nTo shop ALL the books in the Reader Meet Writer Series\, click on the image below!\n \n\n+ Google Calendar
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-carter-sickels-with-the-prettiest-star/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Reading,Virtual Author Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Reader-Meet-Writer-Carter-Sickels.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200519T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200519T160000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200510T054540Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200517T062157Z
UID:2528-1589900400-1589904000@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: Mary Alice Monroe with On Ocean Boulevard (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join us Tuesday\, May 18th on 3 pm for a lowcountry favorite! Mary Alice Monroe is the New York Times bestselling author of more than twenty books\, including the Beach House series: The Beach House\, Beach House Memories\, Swimming Lessons\, Beach House for Rent\, and  Beach House Reunion. She is a 2018 Inductee into the South Carolina Academy of Authors’ Hall of Fame\, and her books have received numerous awards\, including the 2008 South Carolina Center for the Book Award for Writing\, the 2014 South Carolina Award for Literary Excellence\, the 2015 SW Florida Author of Distinction Award\, the RT Lifetime Achievement Award\, the International Book Award for Green Fiction\, and the 2017 Southern Book Prize for Fiction. Her bestselling novel The Beach House is also a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. An active conservationist\, she lives in the lowcountry of South Carolina. Visit her at MaryAliceMonroe.com and at Facebook.com/MaryAliceMonroe. \nOn Ocean Boulevard Gallery Books | May 19\, 2020 | 9781982146948\nThe New York Times bestselling author of The Summer Guests returns at long last to her beloved Beach House series in this breathtaking novel about one family’s summer of forging new beginnings against the enduring beauty and resilience of the natural world. \nIt’s been sixteen years since Caretta “Cara” Rutledge has returned home to the beautiful shores of Charleston\, South Carolina. Over those years\, she has weathered the tides of deaths and births\, struggles and joys. And now\, as Cara prepares for her second wedding\, her life is about to change yet again. \nMeanwhile\, the rest of the storied Rutledge family is also in flux. Cara’s niece Linnea returns to Sullivan’s Island to begin a new career and an unexpected relationship. Linnea’s parents\, having survived bankruptcy\, pin their hopes and futures on the construction of a new home on Ocean Boulevard. But as excitement over the house and wedding builds\, a devastating illness strikes the family and brings plans to a screeching halt. It is under these trying circumstances that the Rutledge family must come together yet again to discover the enduring strength in love\, tradition\, and legacy from mother to daughter to granddaughter. \nLike the sea turtles that come ashore annually on these windswept islands\, three generations of the Rutledge family experience a season of return\, rebirth\, and growth. “Authentic\, generous\, and heartfelt” (Mary Kay Andrews\, New York Times bestselling author)\,  On Ocean Boulevard is Mary Alice Monroe at her very best.
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-mary-alice-monroe-with-on-ocean-boulevard/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Virtual Author Event
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ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200515T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200515T160000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200507T064947Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200510T050609Z
UID:2506-1589554800-1589558400@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: Kristen Arnett with Mostly Dead Things (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join us on Friday\, May 15th at 3:00 pm for a great discussion with Kristen Arnett\, a queer fiction and essay writer. She won the 2017 Coil Book Award for her debut short fiction collection\, Felt in the Jaw\, and was awarded Ninth Letter’s 2015 Literary Award in Fiction. Her debut novel\, Mostly Dead Things\, is now available in paperback from Tin House. She lives in Florida. Follow her on Twitter @Kristen_Arnett. \nMostly Dead Things: Tin House Books | April 21\, 2020 | 9781947793835\nThe celebrated New York Times Bestseller – A 2019 Best Book of the Year: New York Times\, NPR\, The New Yorker\, TIME\, Washington Post\, Oprahmag.com\, Thrillist\, Shelf Awareness\, Good Housekeeping and more. \nWhat does it take to come back to life? For Jessa-Lynn Morton\, the question is not an abstract one. In the wake of her father’s suicide\, Jessa has stepped up to manage his failing taxidermy business while the rest of the Morton family crumbles. Her mother starts sneaking into the taxidermy shop to make provocative animal art\, while her brother\, Milo\, withdraws. And Brynn\, Milo’s wife—and the only person Jessa’s ever been in love with—walks out without a word. It’s not until the Mortons reach a tipping point that a string of unexpected incidents begins to open up surprising possibilities and second chances. But will they be enough to salvage this family\, to help them find their way back to one another? Kristen Arnett’s breakout bestseller is a darkly funny family portrait; a peculiar\, bighearted look at love and loss and the ways we live through them together. \n\n\nTo shop ALL the books in the Reader Meet Writer Series\, click on the image below!
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-kristen-arnett/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Virtual Author Event
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ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200514T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200514T170000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200507T063115Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200507T201431Z
UID:2497-1589472000-1589475600@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: Susan Beckham Zurenda with Bells for Eli (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join us on Thursday\, May 14th at 4 p.m. for a wonderful discussion with Susan Beckham Zurenda. Susan was meant to join us in person May 16th\, so we’re disappointed she can’t be with us live but look so forward to her virtual talk. She’s providing signed bookplates for those who grab their copy of her new novel at Main Street Reads! \nAfter teaching literature\, composition\, and creative writing to thousands of high school and college students for 33 years\, Susan turned her attention to putting a novel in her heart on paper\, the genesis of which started with a short story that won a fiction prize some years ago. She was delighted to present her debut novel\, Bells for Eli\, to readers on March 2\, 2020. During her years of teaching at Spartanburg Community College and then as an AP English teacher at Spartanburg High School\, Susan published short stories and won numerous regional awards such as the South Carolina Fiction Prize (twice)\, the Porter Fleming Competition\, The Southern Writers Symposium Emerging Writers Fiction Contest\, The Hub City Hardegree Contest in Fiction\, Alabama Conclave First Novel Chapter Contest\, and The Jubilee Writing Competition (twice). Since 2018\, she has published six stories in literary magazines. \nBells for Eli: Mercer University Press | March 2\, 2020 | 9780881467376\n“A stunning debut\, Bells for Eli establishes Susan Beckham Zurenda as one of the most exciting new voices in Southern fiction\,” says Cassandra King Conroy\, award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of five novels and the memoir Tell Me a Story: My Life with Pat Conroy. \nIn this tender\, beautifully-rendered novel\, the powerful connection between cousins Delia and Eli takes them on a journey fraught with longing\, desire\, and heartbreak. Through loss\, Delia comes to understand that the bonds of love can never truly be broken.” First cousins Ellison (Eli) Winfield and Adeline (Delia) Green are meant to grow up happily and innocently across the street from one another amid the supposed wholesome values of small-town Green Branch\, South Carolina\, in the 1960s and 70s. But Eli’s tragic accident changes the trajectory of their lives and of those connected to them. Shunned and even tortured by his peers for his disfigurement and frailty\, Eli struggles for acceptance in childhood as Delia passionately devotes herself to defending him. \nDelia’s vivid and compassionate narrative voice presents Eli as a confident young man in adolescence—the visible damage to his body gone—but underneath hide indelible wounds harboring pain and insecurity\, scars that rule his impulses. And while Eli cherishes Delia more than anyone and attempts to protect her from her own troubles\, he cares not for protecting himself. It is Delia who has that responsibility\, growing more challenging each year. Bells for Eli is a lyrical and tender exploration of the relationship between cousins drawn together through tragedy in a love forbidden by social constraints and a family whose secrets must stay hidden. \nSusan Beckham Zurenda masterfully transports readers into a small Southern town where quiet\, ordinary life becomes extraordinary. In this compelling coming of age story\, culture\, family\, friends\, bullies\, and lovers propel two young people to unite to guard each other in a world where love\, hope\, and connectedness ultimately triumph.
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-susan-beckham-zurenda-with-bells-for-eli-virtual-event/
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Virtual Author Event
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END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200513T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200513T170000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200507T061137Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200507T063918Z
UID:2492-1589385600-1589389200@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: Katy Simpson Smith with The Everlasting (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join us on Wednesday\, May 13th at 4 p.m. for this special virtual event with Katy Simpson Smith talking about her new novel\, The Everlasting. (Awesome cover\, right?!) \nKaty was born and raised in Jackson\, Mississippi. She is the author of We Have Raised All of You: Motherhood in the South\, 1750-1835\, and the novels The Story of Land and Sea and Free Men. Her novel The Everlasting was published in March\, 2020. She lives in New Orleans\, and currently serves as the Eudora Welty Chair for Southern Literature at Millsaps College. \nThe Everlasting: Publisher: Harper | March 24\, 2020 | 9780062873644\nSpanning two thousand years in and around Rome\, Katy Simpson Smith’s The Everlasting is a novel of intersecting love stories\, lifted by grand gestures and subversive power\, faith and mortal love. Smith joins the stories of four characters: an early Christian child martyr\, a twelve-year-old girl\, ignored\, picked on\, desperate for a big\, loud voice; a gay\, medieval monk at work in the putridarium\, who buries his queerness beneath his religious devotion; a Medici princess of African descent and dubious legitimacy who wields her identity like a weapon; and a contemporary field biologist\, whose research illuminates the beauty and fragility of the natural world and who is conducting an illicit affair. Through it all Satan travels with them\, narrating their struggles with\, by turns\, bitter and biting commentary\, offering counsel no one hears. \nSmith sought to write a grand novel about a grand city\, to show how history’s enormity can swallow the second century and spit out the twenty-first\, all in a blink. She recreates Rome again and again in vivid detail\, charting the illustrious growth of a city whose every stone is a moment in Western history\, though\, as Satan observes\, “This is the city for hustle\, for building permanent tokens on human transience\, and then building on top of those. No one is remembered except the pulsing city itself\, which—sack after sack—refuses to perish.” \nBut it is the small stories that feel most urgent in Smith’s pages. In the Distance author Hernán Díaz writes\, “In a rare display of lyrical erudition\, Katy Simpson Smith’s gorgeous novel lets us feel the depth and density of history by showing us how every life is both an echo of the past and a relic of the future.” It is a truth as deep and layered as Rome itself. \nTo shop ALL the books in the Reader Meet Writer Series\, click on the image below!
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-katy-simpson-smith-with-the-everlasting/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Virtual Author Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Reader-Meet-Writer-Katy-Simpson-Smith.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200512T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200512T180000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200507T055630Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200507T063822Z
UID:2487-1589302800-1589306400@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: Mary Kay Andrews with Hello Summer! (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join us May 12\, 5 p.m. for a special chat with Mary Kay Andrews\, the New York Times bestselling author of 24 novels including THE WEEKENDERS\, BEACH TOWN\, LADIES’ NIGHT\, SUMMER RENTAL\, SUNSET BEACH\, DEEP DISH and HISSY FIT. \nA native of St. Petersburg\, Florida\, Mary Kay received a B.A. in journalism from The University of Georgia and was a newspaper reporter for 14 years. The last ten years of her career were spent as a features reporter for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. After a 14-year career working as a reporter at newspapers including The Savannah Morning News\, The Marietta Journal and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution\, she left journalism in 1991 to write fiction. Her first novel\, EVERY CROOKED NANNY\, was published in 1992 by HarperCollins. She went on to write ten critically acclaimed mysteries under her real name. In 2002\, she assumed the pen name Mary Kay Andrews with the publication of SAVANNAH BLUES. In 2006\, HISSY FIT became her first New York Times bestseller\, followed by eleven more New York Times\, USA Today and Publisher’s Weekly bestsellers. \n\n\nHello\, Summer: St. Martin’s Press | May 5\, 2020 | 9781250256928\nIt’s a new season…\nConley Hawkins left her family’s small town newspaper\, The Silver Bay Beacon\, in the rearview mirror years ago. Now a star reporter for a big-city paper\, Conley is exactly where she wants to be and is about to take a fancy new position in Washington\, D.C. Or so she thinks. \nFor small town scandals…\nWhen the new job goes up in smoke\, Conley finds herself right back where she started\, working for her sister\, who is trying to keep The Silver Bay Beacon afloat—and she doesn’t exactly have warm feelings for Conley. Soon she is given the unenviable task of overseeing the local gossip column\, “Hello\, Summer.” \nAnd big-time secrets.\nThen Conley witnesses an accident that ends in the death of a local congressman—a beloved war hero with a shady past. The more she digs into the story\, the more dangerous it gets. As an old heartbreaker causes trouble and a new flame ignites\, it soon looks like their sleepy beach town is the most scandalous hotspot of the summer. \n\n\n\n\nTo shop ALL the books in the Reader Meet Writer Series\, click on the image below!
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-mary-kay-andrews-with-hello-summer/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Virtual Author Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Reader-Meet-Writer-Mary-Kay-Andrews.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200508T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200508T160000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200426T174457Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T174457Z
UID:2458-1588950000-1588953600@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: A Good Marriage with Kimberly McCreight (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a chat with Kimberly McCreight\, New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia\, when she’ll be talking to us about her new novel\, A Good Marriage. (Harper | 9780062367686 | May 5\, 2020). Remember to email us at mainstreetreads@gmail.com to reserve your spot; we’ll send you the confirming link and password on the morning of the event! \nBig Little Lies meets Presumed Innocent in this riveting novel from the New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia\, in which a woman’s brutal murder reveals the perilous compromises some couples make—and the secrets they keep—in order to stay together. \nLizzie Kitsakis is working late when she gets the call. Grueling hours are standard at elite law firms like Young & Crane\, but they’d be easier to swallow if Lizzie was there voluntarily. Until recently\, she’d been a happily underpaid federal prosecutor. That job and her brilliant\, devoted husband Sam—she had everything she’d ever wanted. And then\, suddenly\, it all fell apart. \nNo. That’s a lie. It wasn’t sudden\, was it? Long ago the cracks in Lizzie’s marriage had started to show. She was just good at averting her eyes. \nThe last thing Lizzie needs right now is a call from an inmate at Rikers asking for help—even if Zach Grayson is an old friend. But Zach is desperate: his wife\, Amanda\, has been found dead at the bottom of the stairs in their Brooklyn brownstone. And Zach’s the primary suspect. \nAs Lizzie is drawn into the dark heart of idyllic Park Slope\, she learns that Zach and Amanda weren’t what they seemed—and that their friends\, a close-knit group of fellow parents at the exclusive Brooklyn Country Day school\, might be protecting troubling secrets of their own. In the end\, she’s left wondering not only whether her own marriage can be saved\, but what it means to have a good marriage in the first place. \nKimberly McCreight is the New York Times bestselling author of Reconstructing Amelia\, which was nominated for the Edgar\, Anthony\, and Alex Awards; Where They Found Her; and The Outliers young adult trilogy. She attended Vassar College and graduated cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania Law School. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and two daughters. \nTo shop ALL the books in the Reader Meet Writer Series\, click on the image below!
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-a-good-marriage-with-kimberly-mccreight-virtual-event/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Reading,Virtual Author Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Reader-Meet-Writer-Kimberly-McCreight.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200507T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200507T160000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200426T161727Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T161727Z
UID:2453-1588863600-1588867200@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: Kaitlin B. Curtice Discusses NATIVE  (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join us May 7th at 3 p.m.for a fascinating talk with Kaitlin B. Curtice about Native: Identity\, Belonging\, and Rediscovering God (Publisher: Brazos Press | May 5\, 2020 | 9781587434310) DON’T FORGET: You must email us at mainstreetreads@gmail.com for your confirming link and password! \nNative is about identity\, soul-searching\, and the never-ending journey of finding ourselves and finding God. As both a citizen of the Potawatomi Nation and a Christian\, Kaitlin Curtice offers a unique perspective on these topics. In this book\, she shows how reconnecting with her Potawatomi identity both informs and challenges her faith. \nCurtice draws on her personal journey\, poetry\, imagery\, and stories of the Potawatomi people to address themes at the forefront of today’s discussions of faith and culture in a positive and constructive way. She encourages us to embrace our own origins and to share and listen to each other’s stories so we can build a more inclusive and diverse future. Each of our stories matters for the church to be truly whole. As Curtice shares what it means to experience her faith through the lens of her Indigenous heritage\, she reveals that a vibrant spirituality has its origins in identity\, belonging\, and a sense of place. \nKaitlin B. Curtice is a citizen of the Potawatomi Nation as well as a Christian\, public speaker\, and poet. She travels around the country speaking on faith and justice within the church as it relates to Indigenous peoples and has been a featured speaker at Why Christian\, Evolving Faith\, Wild Goose Festival\, The Festival of Faith & Writing\, The Revolutionary Love Conference\, and more. Curtice is a monthly columnist for Sojourners\, has contributed to On Being and Religion News Service\, and has been featured on CBS and in USA Today and the New Yorker for her work on having difficult conversations within the church about colonization. She is the author of Glory Happening: Finding the Divine in Everyday Places and writes on her blog at www.kaitlincurtice.com. \nTo shop ALL the books in the Reader Meet Writer Series\, click on the image below!
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-kaitlin-b-curtice-discusses-native-virtual-event/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Reading,Virtual Author Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Reader-Meet-Writer-Kaitlin-B-Curtice.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200506T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200506T160000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200426T144926Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T145310Z
UID:2443-1588777200-1588780800@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: The Lincoln Conspiracy with Brad Meltzer! (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join Us to Talk About The Lincoln Conspiracy! In 2019\, #1 bestselling author Brad Meltzer\, with Josh Mensch\, wrote THE FIRST CONSPIRACY: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington\, a national bestseller that was widely praised by critics\, historians\, and two U.S. Presidents for its meticulous research and propulsive narrative. Meltzer and Mensch return to uncover another fascinating episode previously lost to history in THE LINCOLN CONSPIRACY: The Secret Plot to Kill America’s 16th President—and Why It Failed (Flatiron Books; May 5\, 2020). \nIn our current climate of uncertainty and fear\, the book is a reminder of the capacity for American greatness in the form of one of its most lauded and inspirational heroes\, Abraham Lincoln. “THE LINCOLN CONSPIRACY is a story few people know\, one that’s set in a time of deep political division in America\,” Meltzer says. “It shows us what good leaders can do in times of strife – perfectly on point for where our country is today.” \nWritten in the same page-turning style as Meltzer’s other bestsellers\, THE LINCOLN CONSPIRACY offers a fascinating new look at one of the most important figures in American history. \nThe story opens in 1861 on a train traveling from Philadelphia to Washington DC in the dark of night\, days before Abraham Lincoln’s first inauguration. Having just won the presidency by a slim margin\, Lincoln is headed to the White House deeply hated by the slaveholding Southern states\, who began to secede only weeks after he was elected. Now a group of pro-slavery\, white supremacist conspirators want to go further than delegitimizing Lincoln’s presidency. They want him dead. \nThe assassins don’t know it\, but someone is on to them. America’s most famous private detective\, Allan Pinkerton\, just discovered their plot and is trying to defeat it. He’s assembled a team that includes the first known female detective in the U.S.\, Kate Warne. In the middle of the night\, Lincoln boards a train disguised as an invalid\, wearing a shawl and a low-brimmed hat. \nThe goal? Get to Washington\, D.C. undetected – and save the new President’s life. President Lincoln would go on to lead the United States during one of the most tumultuous times in its history. Thanks to Meltzer and Mensch\, we learn how dangerously close the killers came to changing everything. \nBarbara Bush Houston Literacy Foundation Gala Writer’s Luncheon at the home of Terri and Jon Havens\nBrad Meltzer is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Escape Artist and many other bestselling thrillers\, as well as the “Ordinary People Change the World” series. He is also the host of the History Channel TV shows Brad Meltzer’s Decoded and Brad Meltzer’s Lost History\, which he used to help find the missing 9/11 flag that the firefighters raised at Ground Zero. He lives in South Florida with his family. Josh Mensch is a New York Times bestselling author and documentary television producer with a focus on American history and culture. He is co-author with Brad Meltzer of The First Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill George Washington. For television\, he has written\, directed\, and been a showrunner on nonfiction series for the History Channel\, PBS\, National Geographic\, and many other networks. He lives in Brooklyn\, New York with his wife and children. \nTo shop ALL the books in the Reader Meet Writer Series\, click on the image below!
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-the-lincoln-conspiracy-with-brad-meltzer-virtual-event/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Reading,Virtual Author Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Brad-Meltzer-The-Lincoln-Conspiracy.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200505T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200505T160000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200426T142923Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200426T154324Z
UID:2435-1588690800-1588694400@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: Caroline B. Cooney's Before She Was Helen (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join us through Main Street Reads for the special virtual event on May 5th and get your pre-orders in now! Email us at mainstreetreads@gmail.com to get your link and password. Want to read a FREE sample chapter? CLICK HERE \nBefore She Was Helen\nFrom the international bestselling author of The Face on the Milk Carton Caroline B. Cooney comes Before She Was Helen\, an absorbing mystery that brings decades-old secrets to life and explores what happens when the lie you’ve been living falls apart and you’re forced to confront the truth. \nHer life didn’t turn out the way she expected—so she made herself a new one… \nWhen Clemmie goes next door to check on her difficult and unlikeable neighbor Dom\, he isn’t there. But something else is. Something stunning\, beautiful and inexplicable. Clemmie photographs the wondrous object on her cell phone and makes the irrevocable error of forwarding it. As the picture swirls over the internet\, Clemmie tries desperately to keep a grip on her own personal network of secrets. Can fifty years of careful hiding under names not her own be ruined by one careless picture? \nAnd although what Clemmie finds is a work of art\, what the police find is a body. . . in a place where Clemmie wasn’t supposed to be\, and where she left her fingerprints. Suddenly\, the bland\, quiet life Clemmie has built for herself in her sleepy South Carolina retirement community comes crashing down as her dark past surges into the present. \nCaroline B. Cooney is the author of more than 90 suspense\, mystery\, and romance novels for teenagers\, which have sold over 15\,000\,000 copies and are published in several languages. The Face on the Milk Carton has sold over 3\,000\,000 copies and was made into a television movie. Her books have won many state library awards and are on many booklists\, such as the New York Public Library’s annual teen picks. Caroline grew up in Old Greenwich\, Connecticut\, and spent most of her life on the shoreline of that state but is now in South Carolina near her family. She has three children and four grandchildren. She was a church organist for many years\, accompanied the choirs at her children’s schools\, and now plays keyboard for musicals. \nTo shop ALL the books in the Reader Meet Writer Series\, click on the image below!
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-caroline-b-cooneys-before-she-was-helen-virtual-event/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Reading,Virtual Author Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Reader-Meet-Writer-Caroline-B-Cooney.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200429T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200429T180000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200424T071359Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200424T071359Z
UID:2416-1588179600-1588183200@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: The Other Einstein by Marie Benedict
DESCRIPTION:Join us on April 29th at 5 pm for a chat with Marie Benedict\, author of The Other Einstein. The first author in the #SaveIndieBookstores series is Marie Benedict. Marie Benedict is the author of The Other Einstein\, Carnegie’s Maid\, The Only Woman in the Room\, and Lady Clementine. She is a lawyer with more than ten years’ experience as a litigator at two of the country’s premier law firms and for Fortune 500 companies. Visit her online at authormariebenedict.com.\n\nThe Other Einstein is one of a limited number of titles that simply by purchasing\, you are supporting indie bookstores\, and if you’d like to do more\, visit SaveIndieBookstores.com. Marie will be talking with us about her book The Other Einstein and answering your questions. Join us and let’s raise some money for indie bookstores.\n\n“Beautifully written…a finely drawn portrait of a woman in love with the wrong man.” – Jillian Cantor\, author of Margot and The Hours Count\n\nDate: Wednesday\, April 29\, 2020\nTime: 5:00 p.m.\nRSVP: mainstreetreads@gmail.com\nAttendance is limited. If you elect to attend\, we will email you on Wednesday morning with the link and password to attend this virtual event. To grab your copy of The Other Einstein\, call us at 843-875-5171 or CLICK HERE to order from our Bookshop page!\nTo shop ALL the books in the Reader Meet Writer Series\, click on the image below!
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-the-other-einstein-by-marie-benedict/
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Virtual Author Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Reader-Meet-Writer-Marie-Benedict.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200428T150000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200428T160000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200419T060503Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200424T055552Z
UID:2354-1588086000-1588089600@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: Kristy Woodson Harvey Discusses Feels Like Falling (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Let us deliver authors to your living room.  The next author in the Okra Pick series is Kristy Woodson Harvey\, the bestselling author of DEAR CAROLINA\, LIES AND OTHER ACTS OF LOVE\, SLIGHTLY SOUTH OF SIMPLE\, THE SECRET TO SOUTHERN CHARM and THE SOUTHERN SIDE OF PARADISE. \nKristy is the winner of the Lucy Bramlette Patterson Award for Excellence in Creative Writing\, a finalist for the Southern Book Prize. Her work has been optioned for film and her books have received numerous accolades. Harvey’s writing has appeared in numerous publications and websites\, including Southern Living\, Traditional Home\, Parade\, USA Today\, Domino\, Our State and O. Henry. \nShe has been seen in Today.com\, Women’s Health\, The Washington Post\, US News and World Report\, The Huffington Post\, Marie Claire’s The Fix\, Woman’s World\, Readers’ Digest\, Bustle\, New York Live and North Carolina Bookwatch\, among others. \nFeels Like Falling\, Gallery Books | April 28\, 2020 | 9781982117702 From “the next major voice in Southern fiction” (Elin Hilderbrand) and the bestselling author of the Peachtree Bluff series comes an odd-couple tale of friendship that asks just how much our past choices define our happiness. \nIt’s summertime on the North Carolina coast and the livin’ is easy. Unless\, that is\, you’ve just lost your mother to cancer\, your sister to her extremist husband\, and your husband to his executive assistant. Meet Gray Howard. Right when Gray could use a serious infusion of good karma in her life\, she inadvertently gets a stranger\, Diana Harrington\, fired from her job at the local pharmacy. \nDiana Harrington’s summer isn’t off to the greatest start either: Hours before losing her job\, she broke up with her boyfriend and moved out of their shared house with only a worn-out Impala for a bed. Lucky for her\, Gray has an empty guest house and a very guilty conscience. With Gray’s kindness\, Diana’s tide begins to turn. \nBut when her first love returns\, every secret from her past seems to resurface all at once. And\, as Gray begins to blaze a new trail\, she discovers\, with Diana’s help\, that what she envisioned as her perfect life may not be what she wants at all. In her warmest\, wisest novel yet\, Kristy Woodson Harvey delivers a discerning portrait of modern womanhood through two vastly different lenses. Feels Like Falling is a beach bag essential for Harvey fans—and for a new generation of readers. \n\n\n\nHere are the details you need: \nDate: Tuesday\, April 28\, 2020 Time: 3:00 p.m. RSVP: mainstreetreads@gmail.com Attendance is limited. If you elect to attend\, we will email you on Tuesday morning with the link and password to attend this virtual event\, plus the link to purchase books. \nFor a free sneak peek chapter\, CLICK HERE!\nTo view/shop all Kristy’s books\, including the new release\, CLICK HERE.\n \nTo shop ALL the books in the Reader Meet Writer Series\, click on the image below!
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-kristy-woodson-harvey-with-feels-like-falling-virtual-event/
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Virtual Author Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Reader-Meet-Writer-Kristy-Woodson-Harvey.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200422T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200422T180000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200419T032217Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200419T032433Z
UID:2336-1587574800-1587578400@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer Southern Series: Ruthie Lindsey's There I Am (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join us for this special event on April 22 at 5:00 p.m. \n“Ruthie is a gifted storyteller with the unique ability to make you feel her emotions as if they’re your own. Her book is somehow both bold and tender and utterly\, truthfully\, authentically her. She doesn’t hide from heartbreak or fail to experience the fullness of all the beauty life can hold.” —Rachel Hollis\, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Girl\, Wash Your Face and Girl\, Stop Apologizing \nBrain on Fire meets Carry On\, Warrior. There I Am is an arresting inspirational memoir about one woman’s journey from chronic pain and hopelessness to finding joy\, redemption\, and healing. \nAt seventeen years old\, Ruthie Lindsey is hit by an ambulance near her home in rural Louisiana. She’s given a five percent chance of survival and one percent chance of walking again. One month later after a spinal fusion surgery\, Ruthie defies the odds\, leaving the hospital on her own two feet. \nJust a few years later\, newly married and living in Nashville\, Ruthie begins to experience debilitating pain. Her case confounds doctors and after numerous rounds of testing\, imaging\, and treatment\, they prescribe narcotic painkillers—lots of them. Ruthie has become bedridden\, dependent on painkillers\, and hopeless\, when an X-ray reveals that the wire used to fuse her spine is piercing her brain stem. Without another staggeringly expensive experimental surgery\, she could well become paralyzed\, but in many ways\, she already is. \nRuthie goes into the hospital in chronic pain\, dependent on prescription painkillers\, and leaves that way. She can still walk\, but has no idea where she’s going. As her life unravels\, Ruthie returns home to Louisiana and sets out on a journey to learn joy again. She trades fentanyl for sunsets and morphine for wildflowers\, weaning herself off of the drugs and beginning the process of healing—of coming home to her body. \nRaw and redemptive\, There I Am isn’t just about the magic of optimism\, but the work of it. Ruthie’s extraordinary memoir urges us to unlearn the stories of brokenness that we tell ourselves and embrace the wholeness\, joy\, and healing that lives inside all of us. \n“Ruthie Lindsey’s voice speaks directly to the heart. There I Am is a testament to the things that break us\, heal us\, and make us who we are.” —Glennon Doyle\, author of #1 New York Times Bestseller Love Warrior and founder of Together Rising \n“This book is an incredible gift. One of the most moving life stories I’ve ever read. Or heard of. It has reframed how I see pain\, death\, and the whole experience of life. I immediately put it up there with the great memoirs\, The Glass Castle\, Wild\, and Educated.” —Jedidiah Jenkins\, New York Times bestselling author of To Shake the Sleeping Self \n“Consistently readable and inspirational\, Lindsey keeps readers in suspense about whether she will be able to fully enjoy her life. At the end\, the author addresses readers directly and asks them to focus on healing what is broken in their own lives. Illness memoirs from noncelebrities often get lost in the stacks. This one deserves greater attention.” —Kirkus Reviews \nORDER HERE: There I Am: The Journey From Hopelessness to Healing
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-southern-series-ruthie-lindseys-there-i-am-virtual-event/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Reading,Virtual Author Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Reader-Meet-Writer-Ruthie-Lindsey.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200421T160000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200421T170000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200418T195726Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200418T195951Z
UID:2325-1587484800-1587488400@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Reader Meet Writer: Lee Smith Blue Marlin (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:Join our special Reader Meet Writer virtual event on Tuesday\, April 21st at 4:00 p.m. \nBorn in the small coal-mining town of Grundy\, Virginia\, Lee Smith began writing stories at the age of nine and selling them for a nickel apiece. Since then\, she has written seventeen works of fiction\, including Fair and Tender Ladies\, Oral History\, and\, most recently\, Guests on Earth. She has received many awards\, including the North Carolina Award for Literature and an Academy Award in Fiction from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Her novel The Last Girls was a New York Times bestseller as well as winner of the Southern Book Critics Circle Award. She lives in Hillsborough\, North Carolina\, with her husband\, the writer Hal Crowther. \nNow comes this gem of a novella\, which Smith names one of her favorite works of her illustrious career. \nLee Smith’s masterful storytelling manifests in this jewel of a novella that follows Jenny\, an adventurous thirteen-year-old\, down to Key West for a patched-up family vacation following the discovery of her father’s affair. Jenny confronts the frailty of family life while vying for the attention of dreamy actor Tony Curtis and even a role in his latest movie. \nAvailable for the first time as a stand-alone novella\, this book centers on the Blue Marlin Motel\, where Jenny\, her beautiful socialite mother\, and chastened father share their sunny days with movie stars who are in town to film the 1959 classic\, Operation Petticoat. Blue Marlin showcases this iconic writer at her best: sharp characterizations\, perfect pitch\, generous humor\, and a quietly profound understanding of human nature.
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/reader-meet-writer-lee-smith-blue-marlin/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Club,Book Discussion,Virtual Author Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Reader-Meet-Writer-with-Lee-Marlin.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200416T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200416T180000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200411T201520Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200412T044900Z
UID:2190-1587056400-1587060000@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:The Coyotes of Carthage (Virtual Event)
DESCRIPTION:We’re delivering authors to your living room! The next author in the Okra Pick series is Steven Wright.  He will be talking with us about his debut novel The Coyotes of Carthage and answering your questions. Steven is one of many authors we’ll be bringing into your living room. \n“Steven Wright’s The Coyotes of Carthage is a novel steeped in atmosphere and laced with menace. It’s a political potboiler masking as a buddy drama\, a treatise on race and class packaged as a fish-out-of-water tale. Wright’s novel is what so few novels are: a page-turner with a conscience\, a burner of a read with something to say. If House of Cards and True Detective made a novel\, it would be Coyotes of Carthage. It’s a great novel and one hell of a debut.” – Wiley Cash\, 2020 Conroy Legacy Award Recipient \nHere are the details you need:\nDate: April 16\nTime: 5 PM EDT\nRSVP: mainstreetreads@gmail.com\nAttendance is limited. \nWhen you elect to attend\, we will email you on Thursday morning with the link to this virtual event and the password\, plus the link to purchase books if you so choose! Happy Reading! You can order The Coyotes of Carthage ONLINE or call us with your order – we can ship direct to you or bring it to you curbside. \nMeet Steven Wright\nSteven Wright is a clinical associate professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School\, where he codirects the Wisconsin Innocence Project. From 2007 to 2012 he served as a trial attorney in the Voting Section of the United States Department of Justice. He has written numerous essays about race\, criminal justice\, and election law for the New York Review of Books. \nThe Coyotes of Carthage: Ecco | April 14\, 2020 | 9780062951663\nRead a FREE Sample Chapter HERE\n“With this splendid debut\, Steven Wright announces his arrival as a major new voice in the world of political thrillers. I enjoyed it immensely.” —John Grisham \nA blistering and thrilling debut—a biting exploration of American politics\, set in a small South Carolina town\, about a political operative running a dark money campaign for his corporate clients \nDre Ross has one more shot. Despite being a successful political consultant\, his aggressive tactics have put him on thin ice with his boss\, Mrs. Fitz\, who plucked him from juvenile incarceration and mentored his career. She exiles him to the backwoods of South Carolina with $250\,000 of dark money to introduce a ballot initiative on behalf of a mining company. The goal: to manipulate the locals into voting to sell their pristine public land to the highest bidder. \nDre arrives in God-fearing\, flag-waving Carthage County\, with only Mrs. Fitz’s well-meaning yet naïve grandson Brendan as his team. Dre\, an African-American outsider\, can’t be the one to collect the signatures needed to get on the ballot. So he hires a blue-collar couple\, Tyler Lee and his pious wife\, Chalene\, to act as the initiative’s public face. \nUnder Dre’s cynical direction\, a land grab is disguised as a righteous fight for faith and liberty. As lines are crossed and lives ruined\, Dre’s increasingly cutthroat campaign threatens the very soul of Carthage County and perhaps the last remnants of his own humanity. \nA piercing portrait of our fragile democracy and one man’s unraveling\, The Coyotes of Carthage paints a disturbingly real portrait of the American experiment in action.
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/steven-wright-the-coyotes-of-carthage-virtual-event/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Reading,Virtual Author Event
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Reader-Meet-Writer.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200321T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200321T130000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200312T042410Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200313T141104Z
UID:1965-1584784800-1584795600@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Booksigning: Marie Crow with Abigail and Her Pet Zombie
DESCRIPTION:So excited to announce that author Marie Crow will join us March 21st at Main Street Reads…\n\nMarie Crow weaves her stories around the human element of the horror versus the “monsters” themselves. She believes that the real horror of life does not come from the expected\, but from the unexpected responses of the human nature and what depths of trauma a person has to survive in certain situations.\n\nShe began writing The Risen series when feeling that the popular genre was slipping too deep into the realm of pure “slasher” and forgetting what the horror of zombies can mean for a story.\nNow with her children’s series launched\, Marie hopes to use her favorite “monster” as a teaching tool to inspire children to understand that not everything that looks scary\, is scary. With Abigail and Her Pet Zombie series\, Marie hopes to further spread her love for all things “that go bump in the night” with small children\, showing them that it’s okay to be different and to embrace those same differences in those around them. \n         \n    \n \n 
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/booksigning-marie-crow-with-abigail-and-her-pet-zombie/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Book Signing
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Marie-Crow-Signing.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200307T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200307T130000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200204T150741Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200302T151048Z
UID:1828-1583575200-1583586000@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:"SCARY SATURDAY" Booksigning: Afterlife Series author and podcaster Nicholas A. McGirr
DESCRIPTION:Author and podcaster Nicholas A. McGirr will be gracing Main Street Reads during February’s 3rd Thursday festivities that include\, as always\, free refreshments and lively discussion! \nNick can also get you discount tix to downtown Charleston’s GHOST HUNTING TOUR! \n     \n 
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/3rd-thursday-booksigning-afterlife-series-author-and-podcaster-nicholas-a-mcgirr/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Book Signing,Celebration,Third Thursday
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/NICHOLAS-SATURDAY.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200229T113000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200229T143000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200218T184322Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200218T184322Z
UID:1908-1582975800-1582986600@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Booksigning: Thoughts Along the Way with Herman Dixon
DESCRIPTION:How are those New Year’s resolutions coming? Anyone out there (like us) procrastinating a bit? Well jump off the couch and come on out Saturday\, February 29th to meet local inspiring author and speaker Herman Dixon and grab a copy of his incredibly inspiring book\, Thoughts Along the Way. Learn more at https://thinkbigdixon.com \nThoughts Along the Way is a valuable resource for individual and leaders alike to better tackle the stresses and demands of life and career. \nAbout Herman Dixon\nHerman Dixon is an author\, speaker\, facilitator and advisor who resides in the Charleston\, SC metro area. He brings nearly 50 years of practical business experience from a varied range of entrepreneurial and corporation settings. His work focuses on assisting those who strive to reach higher levels of excellence in their professional and personal endeavors. \nAffectionally known as the “Hermanator” for his ability to tackle tough issues and seemingly winless situations\, Dixon has helped business owners\, leaders\, managers\, teams and other executives to become more impactful in their roles and achieve clarity in their vision and mission. \nAs an author and speaker\, Herman has opened the inquisitive minds of others to workable solutions and the inspiration to better discover the true meaning of a happy life and the enthusiasm to positively impact others. His various articles and programs clearly reflect his hands-on practical work experience. \nAs a facilitator\, Herman has enabled many to better understand the need and impact of such things as strategic planning\, the true essence of leadership and the impact of an ethical approach in professional and personal disciplines. \nHis forthcoming books\, Confessions of A Poor Country Boy\, The 12 Traits for Effective Living\, and Achievement provide a practical supplement to Herman’s contention that within everyone lies the answer to personal success. It simply needs to be “mined” properly so that its rise to the surface builds a lasting foundation for achievement to grow.
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/booksigning-thoughts-along-the-way-with-herman-dixon/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Book Signing
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Herman-Dixon-Signing-at-MSR.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200229T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200229T130000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200210T204415Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200210T211605Z
UID:1856-1582970400-1582981200@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Booksigning: Growing Up Gullah in the Lowcountry
DESCRIPTION:Join us for the launch of Growing Up Gullah in the Lowcountry when author Josie Olsvig will be here to sign copies – a perfect time to launch this important book as we wrap up African American History Month! \nThis is a bright\, colorful and informative children’s book about the Gullah culture derived from West African slave descendants. It is a book that may be used to explain differing cultures and black history. The author acquaints the reader with heirs’ property\, the parcels of land many of the Gullah live on in the Lowcountry and surrounding Sea Islands acquired by freedmen after the Civil War. \nOther numerous aspects of the Gullah culture are introduced including sweetgrass basket making\, a time-honored tradition brought from West Africa\, herbal medicines\, Southern cooking which incorporates many plants and vegetables brought from Africa\, as well as the importance of faith and family. Certain points about the Civil War are discussed and the African American hero Robert Smalls is introduced. All of this is conveyed through the use of thirty colorful illustrations designed by a Lowcountry artist. \nA parent/teacher guide\, as well as discussion questions\, are included in the work. \nAbout Josie Olsvig \nFollowing more than thirty years in public service as an attorney and human rights advocate\, Josie retired and moved along with her husband to the Charleston\, South Carolina area. After experiencing a series of vivid dreams about an enslaved woman and her white master\, the author began to research the Gullah culture\, race-based slavery and the history of Charleston. Based on five years of research\, site visits and interviews with Gullahs\, the author penned this book for children and a soon to be released historical novel.
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/booksigning-growing-up-gullah-in-the-lowcountry/
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Book Signing,Reading
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Josie-Gullah-Booksigning.png
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BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200222T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200222T130000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200128T064752Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200219T234155Z
UID:1801-1582365600-1582376400@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Book Signing: Soul Sprints with John Gibson
DESCRIPTION:Soul Sprints is a football tale of love\, friendship\, tolerance\, and the ties of family and community that bind\, even in the unceasing presence of bitterness and prejudice in post-9/11 America.: \nLake Barrow\, Florida is a small\, central Florida farming community that prides itself on loving three things: faith\, family\, and the mighty Spartans of Sims County High. The tiny Bible-belt town is also home to a long-standing feud between two of its most prominent families\, the Gills and the Danforths. \nJayce Leonard is a hometown football hero from Lake Barrow who is all too familiar with the Gill-Danforth controversy. After achieving success as a college quarterback at a small university\, Jayce is called home in 2003 to coach at his alma mater at the age of twenty-four\, making him the youngest high school head coach in the state of Florida. However\, he soon finds himself squarely in the middle of his hometown’s checkered history again as he seeks to start a family and successfully lead his beloved Spartans on the gridiron. Alongside him is his college teammate and best friend\, Soul Rasheed. "Coach Soul\," as he is known to the team\, is a Muslim and former favorite receiving target of Jayce's whose enthusiasm and charisma quickly endear him to the players. However\, Soul's presence in Lake \nBarrow – along with his faith – soon generates fresh strife in the midst of the ongoing discord that has plagued Jayce’s small town for years. \nJoin us for the booksigning and lively discussion. Refreshments will be served!
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/book-signing-soul-sprints-with-john-gibson/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Book Signing
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/John-Gibson-at-MSR.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200215T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200215T130000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200204T001516Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200204T031157Z
UID:1817-1581760800-1581771600@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Booksigning: Featuring Nicole Musap and Heather Lyn Mann!
DESCRIPTION:February 15th (yep\, the day after Valentine’s Day!) will be a special day at Main Street Reads when we host TWO authors and two wonderful books! \nNicole Musap is a Certified Holistic Health and Life Coach. Her book\, Feel It. Heal It. Let It Go: Taking Power Back From Your Pain shares her experiences growing up in an atmosphere where addiction\, denial\, lying\, and keeping secrets was the norm. Within the chapters\, you will be guided through a journey that taps upon eye-opening topics. This book offers three revelations of action to transform behavior from self-defeating to life-enhancing. Feeling the pain\, healing from the pain and then letting go of that pain. With anecdotes and usable insights drawn from personal experiences\, Nicole shares ideas that have helped her overcome pain\, fear and confusion and how to approach life’s challenges with confidence\, love\, courage\, and even humor. \n \nNicole empowers women to shed what no longer serves them through transformational coaching and personal growth workshops. When Nicole is not coaching or writing\, you can probably find her on her purple beach cruiser with an iced coffee sitting in the cupholder. Nicole and her husband are blessed with three tiny humans and love to experience the world’s immense beauty by traveling abroad. \nSpeaking of traveling\, our other featured author\, Heather Lyn Mann\, was a battle–weary environmental advocate in Madison\, Wisconsin\, struggling over what to do about climate change when she and her husband decided to explore the Atlantic on a small sloop. Her memoir\, Ocean of Insight: A Sailor’s Voyage from Despair to Hope\, spans six years living afloat through disasters and discoveries—life-threatening storms\, the boredom of isolation\, societies on the brink of extinction\, sinking ships\, colorful Caribbean characters\, near collisions\, a pirate scare\, and more. Throughout\, the ocean becomes Mann’s teacher\, transforming her with uncompromising lessons on how to harmonize with natural order\, the exact moments and ways to let in fearlessness\, resilience\, happiness\, impermanence\, balance\, compassion\, skillful action\, and beginner’s mind. \nHer suspenseful\, sometimes hilarious\, and always heart–warming journey of body and mind\, shaped by ancient Buddhist teachings\, entertains as it charts reality’s depths and danger zones so arm–chair adventurers\, spiritual seekers\, and the climate concerned can navigate tumultuous waters and arrive together on the shore of planetary well–being. \nIn other words – we’re looking forward to a most excellent day of thoughtful discussion and brilliant insights from these two authors! \nNicole and Heather’s books will both be available for sale and signing and refreshments will be served!
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/booksigning-featuring-nicole-musap-and-heather-lyn-mann/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Book Signing
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Nicole-and-Heather-at-MSR.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200208T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200208T130000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200128T062859Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200128T063015Z
UID:1797-1581156000-1581166800@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Booksigning: Child of Wrath with JB Biggs
DESCRIPTION:Join us for a booksigning and chat with author of Child of Wrath\, JB Biggs! Spanning 30 years\, Child of Wrath is the story of Jonah\, initially a tough ten-year old survivor who wants nothing more than a real home where he can be a normal kid. \nJonah’s erratic and abusive father leads the family on an endless nomadic quest for the next “great thing.” This dangerous odyssey brings the Franklin family to one cult-like compound after another\, culminating in a caged life in a missionary compound in the highlands of Papua\, New Guinea where Jonah will do almost anything to escape. \nThis coming of age tale climaxes in joining the Israeli para-troopers and fighting in a war in the Middle East.\nCan a child of wrath escape the insanity\, become his own man\, and ultimately create a home for his own son in the aftermath of a train-wreck of a childhood?
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/booksigning-child-of-wrath-with-jb-biggs/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Book Signing
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/JB-Biggs-at-Main-Street-Reads.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20200118T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20200118T130000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20200110T212141Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20200110T212141Z
UID:1757-1579341600-1579352400@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Medical Mystery and Mayhem! Booksigning with Alex Lettau and Roger Newman
DESCRIPTION:Hold onto your medical devices folks\, because doctors Alex Lettau and Roger Newman will be at Main Street Reads to sign copies of their medical thrillers on Saturday\, January 18th! Each has approached their books with that particular insider knowledge that make the reads realistic – this is an event you won’t want to miss! \n 
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/medical-mystery-and-mayhem-booksigning-with-alex-lettau-and-roger-newman/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Book Signing
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/Alex-and-Roger-at-Main-Street-Reads.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20191228T100000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20191228T130000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20191215T191455Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20191215T191455Z
UID:1661-1577527200-1577538000@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Booksigning: Meet Author Cheryl Oliver
DESCRIPTION:On Saturday\, December 28th\, we’re pleased to host local author Cheryl Oliver\, with the release of her latest book\, My Best Friend is Gone\, about her daughter Jennifer\, killed by a drunk driver in 2017. Cheryl wants to help others through their grieving process\, especially during the Holiday season. \nA Virginia native\, Cheryl Oliver grew up near Washington D.C.Aside from “My Best Friend is Gone” biography about her daughter\, Oliver has written 7 historical non-fiction books. A graduate of Marymount University\, she is a member of the National Genealogical Association\, DAR\, UDC\, in process with Colonial Dames\, and was invited to join the Descendants of Jamestown\, VA. She lives in Summerville\, SC\, enjoys reading and tending to her beautiful garden flowers. She is currently working on a book about all the men behind the designing\, building\, training\, and sailing of the H. L. Hunley.
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/booksigning-meet-author-cheryl-oliver/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Book Signing
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Cheryl-Oliver-at-MSR.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20191227T173000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20191227T190000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20191215T185333Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20191215T185333Z
UID:1657-1577467800-1577473200@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:Booksigning: Acting Lessons for Living AND Beyond the Bookclub
DESCRIPTION:On Friday\, December 27th\, we’re off to an early start with our “New Year – New You” theme when Chicago author Ruthie Landis will be in town and has graciously agreed to join us to sign copies of her newest release\, Acting Lessons for Living\, as well as her release from earlier this year\, Beyond the Bookclub: We Are the Books We Must Read. \nLOTS of fodder for discussion in both these wonderful\, heartfelt books — we hope you’ll join us for a chat and free refreshments! \n 
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/booksigning-acting-lessons-for-living-and-beyond-the-bookclub/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Book Signing
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Ruthie-Landis-Acting-Lessons-for-Living-at-Main-Street-Reads.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20191214T140000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20191214T170000
DTSTAMP:20260411T064635
CREATED:20191124T210534Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20191124T211416Z
UID:1509-1576332000-1576342800@mainstreetreads.com
SUMMARY:In Conversation: Dr. Benjamin B. Alexander and JC Sasser Discuss Flannery O'Connor (Booksigning)
DESCRIPTION:On December 14\, JC Sasser\, author of the wildly popular 2018 Southern Fiction winning Gradle Bird\, and Ben Alexander\, editor of Good Things Out of Nazareth\, a much-anticipated collection of many of Flannery O’Connor’s unpublished letters\, will be at Main Street Reads to discuss brilliant southern fiction and the great lady herself. \nFlannery O’Connor is a master of twentieth-century American fiction\, joining\, since her untimely death in 1964\, the likes of Hawthorne\, Hemingway\, and Faulkner. Those familiar with her work know that her powerful ethical vision was rooted in a quiet\, devout faith and informed all she wrote and did. \n\n\nYou’ll have the opportunity to get signed copies of both Gradle Bird AND Good Things out of Nazareth\, touted as a literary treasure of over one hundred unpublished letters from National Book Award-winning author Flannery O’Connor and her circle of extraordinary friends. \nGood Things Out of Nazareth is a collection of many of O’Connor’s previously unpublished letters—along with those of literary luminaries such as Walker Percy (The Moviegoer)\, Caroline Gordon (None Shall Look Back)\, Katherine Anne Porter (Ship of Fools)\, Robert Giroux and movie critic Stanley Kauffmann. The letters explore such themes as creativity\, faith\, suffering\, and writing. Brought together\, they form a riveting literary portrait of these friends\, artists\, and thinkers. Here we find their joys and loves\, as well as their trials and tribulations as they struggle with doubt and illness while championing their beliefs and often confronting racism in American society during the civil rights era. \n\nJC Sasser’s work has been compared by other great southern authors to Flannery O’Connor\, and Sasser says she’s been a huge influence on her own work\, so this will be a VERY engaging discussion!\n\nPraise for Good Things Out of Nazareth\n“An epistolary group portrait that will appeal to readers interested in the Catholic underpinnings of O’Connor’s life and work… These letters by the National Book Award–winning short story writer and her friends alternately fit and break the mold. Anyone looking for Southern literary gossip will find plenty of barbs… But there’s also higher-toned talk on topics such as the symbolism in O’Connor’s work and the nature of free will.”—Kirkus Reviews\n \n“A fascinating set of Flannery O’Connor’s correspondence . . . The compilation is highlighted by gems from O’Connor’s writing mentor\, Caroline Gordon. . . . While O’Connor’s milieu can seem intimidatingly insular\, the volume allows readers to feel closer to the writer\, by glimpsing O’Connor’s struggles with lupus\, which sometimes leaves her bedridden or walking on crutches\, and by hearing her famously strong Georgian accent in the colloquialisms she sprinkles throughout the letters. . . . This is an important addition to the knowledge of O’Connor\, her world\, and her writing.”—Publishers Weekly\n\n\nPraise for Gradle Bird\n\n“J.C. Sasser takes us on a romp of an adventure through the life\, eyes and heart of Gradle Bird‘s dark and twisted\, but loving and hilarious world in rural Georgia. Gradle Bird reads like it was written\, in collaboration\, by the ghosts of Flannery O’Connor and Florence King\, while finishing off a bottle of Battlefield Bourbon. And truth is\, if it had been the fruit of the ghosts of two of the South’s darkest and wittiest writers\, we could only hope that they would continue the collaboration. But we’re in luck as J.C. Sasser is alive and well and\, hopefully\, will be telling her stories for years to come. It’s a wonderful story\, a wonderful book.” – Robert Hicks\, author of The Widow of the South and The Orphan Mother \n“Think Flannery O’Connor riffing Elmore Leonard and you get some sense of this wildly inventive\, picaresque novel that stretches the boundaries of what it means to be family and what it costs to love and be loved.  But don’t get me wrong. J.C. Sasser writes in her own lyrical style\, weaving often tragicomic events into a mosaic of  sometimes hallucinogenic wonder.  Her characters seemed swept up in an arc of ever-pending disaster. And yet in the unforgettable presence of Gradle Bird herself\, the book’s 16-year-old chief protagonist\,  you learn how redemption can stumble into our lives at the unlikeliest of times from the unlikeliest of places.” –Ken Wells\, author of Meely LaBauve \n“Anyone who doesn’t fall in love with Gradle Bird\, the character\, might want to stop by an Urgent Care facility for an EKG. Anyone not totally mesmerized by the world depicted in Gradle Bird\, the novel\, might as well forfeit his or her Human Being ID card. J.C. Sasser’s invented a complex\, big-hearted\, dirt-road-smart protagonist surrounded by hilarious one-of-a-kind characters (and a ghost). Absurd\, yet utterly believable. Southern\, yet universal. I’m jealous.” –George Singleton\, author of The Half-Mammals of Dixie\nThis special event takes place between 2 and 5 p.m. — The spirited discussion will begin promptly at 3 p.m. and refreshments will be served!  Following their conversation\, JC and Ben will take questions from the audience.
URL:https://mainstreetreads.com/event/in-conversation-ben-alexander-and-jc-sasser-discuss-flannery-oconnor-booksigning/
LOCATION:Main Street Reads\, 115 S. Main St.\, Summerville\, SC\, 29483\, United States
CATEGORIES:Book Discussion,Book Signing
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://mainstreetreads.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Benjamin-and-JC-Flannery-Book-Discussion-scaled.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Main Street Reads":MAILTO:shari@writerswin.com
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR