 Reserve Your Seat for Jung Yun @ AAM!What I’m Up To This Month: Next week, for our first event of the spring season, Jung Yun will be in town to discuss her fantastic novel O Beautiful. I couldn’t be looking forward to this book talk more. This was one of my favorite reads of 2022 for a couple reasons, including the protagonist, who is unlike any fictional heroine I’ve met. A quick synopsis: Now in her forties, newly minted journalist Elinor Hanson returns home to North Dakota to write about the impact of the oil boom on the state. Elinor is complex—both tough and vulnerable, ambitious and self-destructive, like many women I know in real life, and I can’t wait to talk to Jung about how she managed to craft such a realistic and compelling heroine. I also love the way this novel refuses to make villains out of ordinary people, or to take sides in the complicated arguments over ownership and belonging the oil boom exacerbated in small towns suddenly overrun with itinerant workers. Race, class, gender, and violence are considered thoughtfully and with empathy for all involved, broadening the conversation, rather than shutting it down. For more pre-game chat, click through to my interview with Jung in the Talbot Spy. And don’t forget to reserve your seat!  What Else I’m Reading: The Vanishing Half, Brit Bennett. This elegant novel is about twins, identity, racial passing, and choices you can’t take back. Trying desperately to finish in time for the TEDI bookclub meeting at the library on Thursday, Feb. 2! The Crane Wife, CJ Hauser. The title essay (which went viral in 2019) examines the ending of the writer’s engagement through the lens of the famous folk tale. This brainy, poignant collection expands beautifully on that theme. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, Gabrielle Zevin. 2022’s favorite novel lives up to the hype. Come for themes of friendship, collaboration, and creativity delightfully explored; stay for the ‘90s video game nostalgia. Bonus: The audiobook narrator is terrific.  What Else I’m Looking Forward To This Month: Lecture: “Bear Me Into Freedom” with Jeffrey C. McGuiness @ Talbot Historical Society, Easton 1:00 Wednesday Feb. 1 Free THS, $5 non-members The photographer discusses his project documenting Frederick Douglass’s Talbot County. Theater: Tree Avon Players presents Time Stands Still @ Oxford Community Center February 16-26 $25 general admission; $15 students This contemporary drama, which revolves around a photojournalist injured in the Iraq war and her reporter boyfriend, won Laura Linney a Tony nod back in 2010. Artist Talk: Cheryl Warrick @ Academy Art Museum, Easton 5:30 Saturday Feb. 18 Known for organic forms and abstract maximalism, the artist will discuss the work currently on view in AAM’s Abstract Surge exhibition. Film: African American Film Festival @ Cinema Art Theater, Lewes Feb 17-19 $10 per film general admission; $5 for students Back after a COVID hiatus, the AAFC screens feature-length and short documentaries spotlighting African American culture. Support Shore Lit’s Programs: One of our core values is building inclusive community. For that reason, Shore Lit events are always free. To keep them that way, we are grateful to newsletter subscribers like you who help fund our programs. If you have the means and you value our mission of bringing literary authors to the Eastern Shore, please consider a $25 gift to support our programs. If you have more or less to offer, we are grateful for your generosity; no gift is too big or too small. If you aren’t in a position to offer monetary support, you remain a crucial part of this community, and we thank all of you for your consideration. Shore Lit aims to enhance cultural offerings on the Eastern Shore with free community author events. This newsletter is written by Shore Lit Founder and Director Kerry Folan.
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