Author: Maeve Hayden

Whatever you’re looking for in a summer read—whether it be a laugh-out-loud feminist tale, a small-town mystery, or a nonfiction adventure—area authors have you covered. Dive into the pages of these books and find the perfect warm-weather read for any mood.

Sara Read, Johanna Porter is Not Sorry (fiction)

What do you do when your famous narcissistic ex paints a portrait of you worth thousands? Steal it, of course. Sara Read’s debut novel, Johanna Porter is Not Sorry, follows one soccer mom on a laugh-out-loud art heist of epic proportions. Fun fact: The main character drops the F-bomb more than 100 times, including six on the first page. Read, who lives in Charlottesville, wrote Johanna Porter is Not Sorry while also working her main gig as a nurse to cancer patients. 

Jeannette Walls, Hang the Moon (fiction)

New York Times bestselling author Jeannette Walls’ new novel is a twisty page-turner that follows a willful young woman as she goes from outcast to bootlegger. Sadie Kincaid is the daughter of the most powerful man in a small Virginia town. After a tragic accident gets her cast out, she returns nine years later, determined to reclaim her place in the family. If you haven’t read Walls’ memoir, The Glass Castle, yet, do yourself a favor and add it to your TBR.

Andrea Beatriz Arango, Iveliz Explains It All (middle grade)

Andrea Beatriz Arango is kind of a big deal. Her debut novel in verse, Iveliz Explains It All, earned a 2023 Newbery Honor award. The moving story follows Mimi as she takes on seventh grade while facing mental health challenges, and uses her voice to advocate for the help and understanding she deserves. It’s the perfect read for middle schoolers, or even adults looking for a little inspiration.

Amber McBride, We Are All So Good at Smiling (YA)

UVA professor Amber McBride’s sophomore release, We Are All So Good at Smiling, navigates trauma in magical ways. The young adult novel in verse packs a punch, and might make you shed a tear before leaving you inspired and uplifted. It follows protagonist Whimsy, and her friend Faerry, who grapple with childhood traumas and societal stigmas around mental health, heightened by their experiences of white supremacy and racism as Black teens in contemporary America.

Bruce Holsinger, The Displacements (fiction)

The Displacements is UVA professor Bruce Holsinger’s suspenseful tale of privilege lost in the wake of natural catastrophe. The Larsen-Hall family has settled nicely into its new upper-class Miami life, when the world’s first category six hurricane upends everything they’ve taken for granted. Now two family members are missing, the money’s gone, and the rest of the family is transported hundreds of miles away to a FEMA megashelter. 

Janasha Bradford Malcolm’s Master Plan to Gazillionaire (kids)

Experiencing the loss of her home as a child made Janasha Bradford understand the importance of financial literacy from a young age. She now works locally as a financial advisor, and teaches kids financial literacy through her picture books. Her latest, Malcolm’s Master Plan to Gazillionaire, is educational, imaginative, and might just inspire your kid to start a summer side hustle mowing lawns or selling lemonade.

M.K. England, The One True Me and You and Player vs. Player Trilogy (YA and kids)

You might know M.K. England from their YA fantasy and sci-fi novels—or maybe they helped you pick out your next read while they were working as a teen librarian at JMRL. Now, they’re diving into the contemporary genre with The One True Me and You (written as Remi K. England), a funny story full of queer joy, love, and plenty of nerdy references. For younger kids, check out their Player vs. Player Trilogy, an action-packed illustrated series perfect for reluctant readers. 

Corban Addison
Wastelands (nonfiction)

Get your nonfiction fix with Corban Addison’s Wastelands: The True Story of Farm Country on Trial—an account of a small rural community in North Carolina fighting against one of the world’s most powerful companies. Addison’s fast-paced, thrilling writing and journalistic integrity will suck you in and make you forget you’re reading a true story. Need more convincing? “Wastelands is a story I wish I had written,” says John Grisham.

Katharine
Schellman
Last Call at the Nightingale (mystery)

Death is always a heartbeat away in Jazz Age New York, where mob bosses rule the back alleys and cops take bootleggers’ hush money. Katharine Schellman’s Last Call at the Nightingale is a gritty, glamorous mystery set in an underground speakeasy where music, liquor, and secrets flow. Book two, The Last Drop of Hemlock, is out this summer.

Emily K. Abel And Margaret K. Nelson
Limited Choices: Mable Jones, A Black Children’s Nurse In A Northern White Household (biography)

Limited Choices tells the story of Mable Jones, a Black Charlottesville native who worked as a children’s nurse in New York in the ’40s and ’50s. The book follows Jones through the poor rural South, Charlottesville, and the affluent suburb of Larchmont, New York, piecing together her life in an effort to investigate the impact of structural racism, and a discriminatory system the authors’ family helped uphold. These authors aren’t local, but Limited Choices is a recommended read for all Charlottesvillians, and includes a foreword by Andrea Douglas, executive director of the Jefferson School African American Heritage Center. 

Susan Tyler Hancock
Into the Forest (nature, nonfiction)

If beachy reads aren’t your thing, venture into the woodlands with Susan Tyler Hancock’s Into the Forest: The Secret Language of Trees. Hitchcock’s poetic prose is combined with photography from National Geographic to illuminate the remarkable role of trees in our everyday lives. This stunning coffee table book includes plenty of nuggets of fun information, including how an astronaut carried tree seeds to the moon and back, why you should microdose on tree gas, and more.

Polly Stewart
The Good Ones (thriller)

Twenty years ago, Nicola Bennett’s best friend mysteriously vanished from their Appalachian hometown. Drawn to stories of missing girls, Nicola obsessively searches the internet, hoping to discover a clue to her missing friend’s fate. Out on June 6, The Good Ones is an engrossing, suspenseful read that examines the push and pull of female friendship and the costs of being good when the rules for women begin to chafe.

Epilogue Catch a few of these local authors around town this summer.

Tuesday 6/6, 7pm
Bluebird & Co. 

Polly Stewart celebrates the release of The Good Ones. bluebirdcrozet.com

Sunday 6/11, 4:30pm
Bluebird & Co.

Katharine Schellman celebrates the release of The Last Drop of Hemlock with New York Times bestselling author Deanna Raybourn (Killers of a Certain Age). bluebirdcrozet.com

Saturday 7/8, 7pm
CODE Building

Jeannette Walls in conversation with Keswick-based author Liza Nash Taylor (In All Good Faith). ndbookshop.com

Saturday 7/15, 7p
New Dominion Bookshop

Karen Wright Marsh, founding director of Theological Horizons at UVA, shares her new book, Wake Up to Wonder: 22 Invitations to Amazement in the Everyday. ndbookshop.com

Why is there no fun underwear in the world?

Joan Kovatch and Dylan West were sitting on their couch one day, pondering this, lamenting the lack of undergarments covered in prints of furry, feral creatures (flowers aren’t really their thing). Struck by a burst of spontaneous inspiration, the couple decided to do something about it, and Critter Butts was born. 

“Our original plan was to make patterns for underwear and make our own underwear and then we were like, ‘slow your roll,’” says West. “Maybe start with something that’s manageable, like cards, and learning how to print.

Prior to launching Critter Butts, West had done a bit of linoleum carving, but Kovatch hadn’t, so the pair got to work figuring out how to bring their designs to life. Learning a new art form to open a new business might seem like a risky move, but they were up for the challenge.

“Before this we’ve both been involved in a ton of crafts,” says West. “We’re both neurodivergent and, just, are all over the place all the time.”

The couple are always down to acquire new skills, adds Kovatch. After learning how to make cheese, build houses, tan hides, taxidermy animals, and sew clothes, carving and printing came naturally.

By summer of 2021, West and Kovatch were ready to take Critter Butts to market. They started at Ix’s Thursday Sunset Market, before eventually moving to the Saturday slot.

Today, the Critter Butts booth is full of delightfully queer block-printed artwork on stickers, cards, prints, and shirts—no underwear, yet. 

“Be gay do crimes” features a bushy-tailed squirrel, gearing up to do some damage. On another design, tiny trash cans and the words “live fast eat trash,” written in an old biker-style font, frame a raccoon. All of the designs are hand-carved, and most of the products are hand-printed.

The couple endearingly describe their work as “queer feral trash creature art.” 

“I often think of queer people as similar to possums or raccoons or squirrels—maybe considered beautiful, but often considered fearful, or a nuisance for the unique ways they figure out to survive civilization, and how they inconvenience normal humans,” Kovatch says. “Queer people, though we are socialized into straight society, in some ways have to unlearn all we’re taught in order to survive as our real selves—to learn to trust our instincts and our inherent worth, even if much of society decides to demonize us. So, feral trash creatures.”

Kovatch continues, “it’s important for us to flag our weirdness enough that other weird people who feel isolated feel okay coming up to us. And that’s been a really, really big part of market.”

The Critter Butts booth at Ix has become an unofficial queer social hub. Folks gather underneath the pride and trans flags always hanging from the tent to trade stories, share life updates, and just be together in community. 

They walk away feeling a little less alone, with a card or two, and perhaps one day, a sick new pair of undies.