"Where the Crawdads Sing" Book Discussion, Led by Mary Alice Monroe

151 South Church Street,Spartanburg SC 29306

14 July, 2022

Description

In partnership with The Johnson Collection, Hub City Bookshop welcomes New York Times bestselling author Mary Alice Monroe to Spartanburg for a discussion of Delia Owens's novel Where the Crawdads Sing. Just in time for the July 15th release of the Crawdads film adaptation, which will feature paintings by Johnson Collection artist Alice Smith, Monroe will appear on Thursday, July 14 from 6:30 to 7:30 pm at the Spartanburg County Public Library Headquarters to discuss the themes of the book. Part of a series of programs designed to showcase Alice Smith's work and celebrate Spartanburg's connection to the film through The Johnson Collection, this discussion will be free and open to all. Copies of Crawdads, as well as of Monroe's newest children's book The Islanders: Search for Treasure, will be available for sale at the event and presale. Reserve your copy with a ticket! About the Book More than 12 million copies sold worldwide A Reese’s Book Club Pick A Business Insider Defining Book of the Decade  “I can't even express how much I love this book! I didn't want this story to end!”—Reese Witherspoon “Painfully beautiful.”—The New York Times Book Review For years, rumors of the “Marsh Girl” have haunted Barkley Cove, a quiet town on the North Carolina coast. So in late 1969, when handsome Chase Andrews is found dead, the locals immediately suspect Kya Clark, the so-called Marsh Girl. But Kya is not what they say. Sensitive and intelligent, she has survived for years alone in the marsh that she calls home, finding friends in the gulls and lessons in the sand. Then the time comes when she yearns to be touched and loved. When two young men from town become intrigued by her wild beauty, Kya opens herself to a new life—until the unthinkable happens. Where the Crawdads Sing is at once an exquisite ode to the natural world, a heartbreaking coming-of-age story, and a surprising tale of possible murder. Owens reminds us that we are forever shaped by the children we once were, and that we are all subject to the beautiful and violent secrets that nature keeps. About Mary Alice Monroe Mary Alice Monroe is the New York Times bestselling author of 27 books, including The Summer of Lost and Found, the 2021 installment in her beloved Beach House series. Monroe has also published children’s books which complement the environmental themes she is known for in her adult novels. Monroe’s middle grade series, written with Angela May, The Islanders, debuted #2 on the New York Times in 2021. The second book in the series, Search for Treasure, will be released in summer 2022.  Nearly eight million copies of her books have been published worldwide. Mary Alice has earned numerous accolades and awards including induction into the South Carolina Academy of Authors’ Hall of Fame; the Southwest Florida Author of Distinction Award; South Carolina Award for Literary Excellence; RT Lifetime Achievement Award; the International Book Award for Green Fiction, and the prestigious Southern Book Prize for Fiction. Her bestselling novel The Beach House is a Hallmark Hall of Fame movie. Monroe is the co-creator of the weekly web show and podcast Friends and Fiction. Mary Alice Monroe has championed the fragility of the earth’s wild habitat. The coastal southern landscape in particular has become a strong and important focus of many of her novels. For her novels Monroe immerses herself in academic research, works with wildlife experts, and does hands-on volunteering with animals. She then uses the knowledge and experiences to craft captivating stories that identify important parallels between nature and human nature.  Sea turtles, bottlenose dolphins, monarch butterflies, shorebirds are among the species she has worked with and woven into her novels. Monroe is an active conservationist and serves on the South Carolina Aquarium Board Emeritus, The Leatherback Trust, The Pat Conroy Literary Center Honorary Board, and Casting Carolinas Advisory Board. She is especially proud to be a twenty year plus state-certified volunteer with the Island Turtle Team. Mary Alice has a home in South Carolina and North Carolina. When not writing a novel, she is with her family or busy working with wildlife somewhere in the world. About the Artwork Paintings by South Carolina artist Alice Ravenel Huger Smith (1876–1958) from the Johnson Collection will be shown in the major motion picture, Where the Crawdads Sing—the film adaptation of the New York Times best-selling book of the same name by Delia Owens. Opening July 15, 2022, Crawdads will include images of Alice Smith’s watercolors of the Carolina Lowcountry. The film’s director, Olivia Newman, sought inspiration from Smith’s art to “capture [the main character’s] world, the marsh and swamps….We looked at paintings, we looked at photography, and we drew from all of the mediums.” Find out more about Alice on The Johnson Collection's website. Alice Ravenel Huger Smith's luminous paintings reflect a body of work characterized by her experimentations in various mediums and mastery of watercolors. Smith is best remembered for her scenic views of Charleston and the surrounding wilds of the Carolina Lowcountry on display in Nature I Loved: Alice Ravenel Huger Smith and the Carolina Lowcountry from July 13–September 24, 2022 at TJC Gallery. The Johnson Collection's downtown Spartanburg gallery is open Wednesday–Saturday, 12–4pm and is always free to visitors.  About The Johnson Collection  Located in Spartanburg, South Carolina, the Johnson Collection has been hailed for having staged a “quiet art historical revolution” and expanding “the meaning of regional” through its “exhibitions, loans, publications, and institutional partnerships.” What began as an interest in paintings by Carolina artists in 2002 has grown to encompass 1,200 objects with provenances that span the centuries and chronicle the cultural evolution of the American South. Since 2012, TJC has produced four significant scholarly books, including its 2018 volume, Central to Their Lives: Women Artists in the Johnson Collection, which featured artwork by Alice Smith in its pages as well as its traveling companion exhibition.