At The Studios of Key West, next door to Books & Books @ The Studios, a book discussion and signing with Dar Williams, author of WHAT I FOUND IN A THOUSAND TOWNS, Saturday, January 12 at 3pm.
Dar Williams, a beloved folk singer, presents an impassioned account of the fall and rise of the small American towns she cherishes through her book WHAT I FOUND IN A THOUSAND TOWNS. Here, she muses on why some towns flourish while others fail, examining elements from the significance of history and nature to the uniting power of public spaces and food. Drawing on her own travels and the work of urban theorists, Williams offers real solutions to rebuild declining communities.
Dubbed by the New Yorker as “one of America’s very best singer-songwriters,” Dar Williams has made her career not in stadiums, but touring America’s small towns. She has played their venues, composed in their coffee shops, and drunk in their bars. She has seen these communities struggle, but also seen them thrive in the face of postindustrial identity crises.
For the full list of Studios events, exhibits and classes, visit www.tskw.org.
And don’t miss Dar Williams in concert, Sunday, January 13 at the Key West Theater.
Saturday, January 19, at 6pm, a discussion and book signing with comedy writer Caitlin Kunkel, co-author of NEW EROTICA FOR FEMINISTS. Kunkel will appear in-conversation with local comedian and journalist Gwen Filosa.
Kunkel, Preston, Taylor, and Wittmer have assembled a smart, timely, and relatable book that balances our need to laugh through the pain with an earnest invocation for change. In NEW EROTICA FOR FEMINISTS, the authors have written dozens of brand-new satirical, spicy vignettes, chock-full of tongue-in-cheek (yet safer for work than the title implies) smut about women in pop culture, literature, dating, and modern parenting.
From Bethany Ball, comes WHAT TO DO ABOUT THE SOLOMONS, a hilarious multigenerational family saga set in Israel, New York, and Los Angeles that explores the secrets and gossip-filled lives of a kibbutz community near Jerusalem. The book introduces readers to the Solomon family as they are faced with a life-altering scandal. Marc Solomon, an Israeli exNavy commando now living in L.A., is falsely accused of money laundering through his asset management firm. Marc’s American wife, Carolyn—concealing her own dark past—makes hopeless attempts to hold their family of five together. But news of the scandal makes its way from America to the rest of the Solomon clan on the kibbutz in the Jordan River Valley. As the secrets and rumors of the kibbutz are revealed through various memories and tales, we witness the things that keep the Solomons together, and those that tear them apart.
Spencer Wise’s THE EMPEROR OF SHOES is a transfixing debut novel inspired by the author’s experiences living and working in an American-owned shoe factory in Guangdong, China. The novel follows Alex, a Jewish American ex-pat, as he reluctantly assumes the helm of his family’s shoe company. When he meets a seamstress named Ivy, she shifts his gaze. But Ivy, who is also an embedded pro-democracy organizer, has broader aims, and Alex must decide where his loyalty resides, a choice which ultimately pushes the entire factory to a crisis point.
If you’ve been keeping up with novelist, poet and short story writer, Rosalind Brackenbury, you might know that she was literary editor at Key West newspaper Solares Hill, and you might know she was Key West’s second Poet Laureate (2014-15), but you probably don’t know that her first job locally was as a deck hand on the Schooner Wolf.
A: The Lost Love Letters had its genesis in my finding in a rural used book store in France, a copy of Fournier’s embryo second novel as put together by some Italian academics in a sort of proof-style format.
Through Pauline’s love letters, her secrets, and a lost Fournier manuscript, Seb will come to learn so much more – about Pauline, Henri, and himself. For Seb, every moment of Pauline’s past proves to be more inspiring than he could have imagined. She’s given him the courage to grab hold of whatever life offers, to cherish each risk, and to pursue love in his life.
Tuesday, December 11, at 6pm, a presentation and book signing with Andrew Simonet, author of Wilder. Simonet, who will be an Artist in Residence at The Studios of Key West in November and December, will offer, “13 Thoughts on Writing and Fighting.”
Jason Wilder is in permanent in-school suspension for fighting. Meili Wen gets there by breaking a girl’s finger. Jason and Meili don’t just connect; they collide. Two people who would never cross paths—outsiders from radically different backgrounds—they form an exhiliarating, unpredictable bond. When circumstances push, they push back. There’s no plan. And there’s no stopping.
December 5 at 6 pm, a book launch party and book signing for The Catalonia Adventures of Angus and Edmond. Meet the book’s author, Gunna Dickson, and its artists/illustrators. Author proceeds from the launch sales will be donated to Anne McKee Artists Fund in memory of Key West artist and gallery owner Jon McIntosh.
The Atlas Obscura Explorer’s Guide for the World’s Most Adventurous Kid is a passport to the world’s weirdest, coolest, and most mesmerizing and mysterious wonders, presented in a stunning, full-color illustrated journey to 100 real destinations in 47 countries on every continent.
In collaboration with the Key West Film Festival, Saturday, November 17, at 3pm, a book launch party and book signing with Alicia Malone, author of The Female Gaze.
You may have heard the term “male gaze,” coined in the 1970s to talk about what happens to viewers when the majority of art and entertainment has been made by the one gender perspective. So, what about the opposite? Women have been making movies since the very beginning of cinema. What does the world look like through the “female gaze”?