With the Virginia Festival of the Book already on our calendar (March 23-26), we reached out to Kalela Williams—the Center for the Book’s new director—to tell us what she’s most looking forward to reading from this year’s lineup. See her picks below, and visit vabook.org for the full festival schedule.—CH
Kaikeyi by Vaishnavi Patel
I love reimaginings, especially when authors revisit female characters. Kaikeyi is a queen from the ancient Hindu epic, though sadly, I’m not familiar with the Ramayana. Somehow I never learned a word about it in school or college. So getting to know the original text would be an education for me, and I’d love to see how Patel has reconsidered this figure.
Deaf Utopia: A Memoir—And a Love Letter to a Way of Life by Nyle DiMarco
I’m really interested in stories that describe thriving in a world that isn’t built for everyone. That’s DiMarco in his memoir Deaf Utopia. His book is also an honoring of Deaf culture. Celebrations are always sweeter when they’re mothered by resilience.
How to Sell a Haunted House by Grady Hendrix
I started digging horror movies at the start of the pandemic, and now I’ve got the spine to creep into books, which are much more intimate and lingering—basically, more terrifying. How to Sell has got the lift of humor, though, and you can’t scream all that much when you’re laughing.
Trailed: One Woman’s Quest to Solve the Shenandoah Murders by Kathryn Miles
True crime is my thing, and so is getting outdoors. Trailed chronicles a search to find out who killed a couple—two women who went camping together—so it might not seem like a nudge to get out there. But it’s a call that the wild should be safe for all of us. I mean, let me go hiking and just worry about bears, not murderers.
Inciting Joy by Ross Gay
Ross Gay’s writing calls me back to a childhood at my grandmother’s house in Summerville, South Carolina, to the legions of flowers she spent hours tending, and how she carried on about each bloom. Her joy. Gay’s new book explores finding mine. Yours. All of ours. Yeah, that’s pretty special.
