Sherbondy to read from 'Beyond Fairy Tales' at So & So Books in Raleigh

Maureen Sherbondy

Maureen Sherbondy of Raleigh, who earned her MFA from Queens University of Charlotte and tutors poetry at Alamance County College in Graham, will read from her new collection,  "Beyond Fairy Tales: Poems in Concrete & Flesh" (Main Street Rag, $14 paper) from 5:30-7 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 13, at So & So Books, 704 N. Person St., Raleigh. Here's a poem from the new book.


WHAT THE PRINCE DOESN'T KNOW

Two months ago the mammogram revealed
a lump, and days since then have passed.

She can no longer throw her hair over the wall
for him to shimmy up beneath the star-scarred sky.

In a nauseous-chemo blur, clumps of golden thread
fell from her head to the tower's cold, stone floor.

Still, the witch keeps her here, caged and ill,
the left breast completely gone. Her head is a pale bald egg,

So when the Prince yells up to her, Rapunzel, throw down
your golden hair, she hides beneath the sterile sheets.

Bestselling authors to speak in Charlotte, Davidson

 February brings two great authors to town.  Lauren Groff ("Arcadia," "The Monsters of Templeton") will be at Queens University of Charlotte on Tuesday, Feb. 11. She'll do a question-and-answer session at 4:30 p.m. in Ketner Auditorium. It's open to the public.
 



Don DeLillo, winner of numerous literary prizes, including the National Book Award for his 1985 novel, "White Noise," will deliver Davidson College's annual Joel A. Conarroe Lecture at 8 p.m. Monday, Feb. 17.

DeLillo, whose other novels include "Libra" and "Mao II," has been called "the chief shaman of the paranoid school of American fiction." Want to learn more before his talk? Here's an enlightening interview from The Paris Review.

DeLillo's lecture is free, but tickets are required. Call (704) 894-2135 or order online for a $3 convenience fee.

Queens University novelist to read from 'Dept. of Speculation'

Jenny Offill's latest novel, "Dept. of Speculation," out Jan. 28, is  getting rave reviews.

Library Journal says it's an "enlightened choice for a reading group."A starred Publishers Weekly review calls it "clever, subtle, and rife with strokes of beauty."

The novel is narrated by a wife analyzing her life amid motherhood and a faltering marriage.

 Offill, who teaches in Queens University of Charlotte's Low-Residency Creative Writing MFA program, will give a reading  at 8:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 10 in Queens' Ketner Auditorium. She'll be joined by poet Morri Creech, author of "The Sleep of Reason."