Barbara Kingsolver

December 3, 2021

Named one of the most important writers of the 20th century by Writer’s Digest, Barbara Kingsolver is the bestselling author of over a dozen books, including the critically acclaimed The Poisonwood Bible, The Bean Trees, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. She will be joined in conversation by her friend and fellow author Ann Patchett.

Below is a list of titles discussed during the program.

David Copperfield – Charles Dickens
Flight Behavior – Barbara Kingsolver
The Poisonwood Bible – Barbara Kingsolver
Unsheltered – Barbara Kingsolver
Prodigal Summer – Barbara Kingsolver
These Precious Days – Ann Patchett
No Cure for Being Human – Kate Bowler
Scientist: E.O. Wilson: A Life in Nature – Richard Rhodes
The Book of Form and Emptiness – Ruth Ozeki
(and we can’t wait to order Barbara’s upcoming book Demon Copperhead!)

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Barbara Kingsolver was named one the most important writers of the 20th century by Writers Digest. In 2000 she received the National Humanities Medal, our country’s highest honor for service through the arts. Critical acclaim for her books includes multiple awards from the American Booksellers Association and the American Library Association, among many others. The Poisonwood Bible was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the Orange Prize, and won the national book award of South Africa, before being named an Oprah Book Club selection. Animal, Vegetable, Miracle won numerous prizes including the James Beard award. The Lacuna won Britain’s prestigious Orange Prize for Fiction in 2010. In 2011, Kingsolver was awarded the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for the body of her work.
Kingsolver established the Bellwether Prize for Fiction, the nation’s largest prize for an unpublished first novel, which since 1998 has helped to establish the careers of more than a half dozen new literary voices. Through a recent agreement, the prize has now become the PEN / Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.

Ann Patchett is the author of eight novels, The Patron Saint of Liars, Taft, The Magician’s Assistant, Bel Canto, Run, State of Wonder, Commonwealth, and The Dutch House. She was the editor of Best American Short Stories, 2006, and has written three books of nonfiction, Truth & Beauty, What now?, and, most recently, This Is the Story of a Happy Marriage. She has won numerous prizes, including the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction, and her work has been translated into more than thirty languages. She was named one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. Patchett is the co-owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville, Tennessee, where she lives with her husband, Karl VanDevender, and their dog, Sparky.

This season was generously supported by the following friends and partners:

Categories: Featured, Literature & Poetry