Latest news with #DemonCopperhead
NZ Herald
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NZ Herald
Book of the day: The Pretender by Jo Harkin
It's a bold claim: ' Wolf Hall meets Demon Copperhead '. Comparisons can be tricky. Publishers make them, of course, to place a book for potential readers, to whet their appetites. But the danger of overreach and disappointed expectations is always there. The blurb of Vikram Seth's desperately overlong novel A Suitable likened it to Middlemarch. Not so much.
Time Magazine
08-05-2025
- General
- Time Magazine
Barbara Kingsolver
In the years leading up to the publication of her Pulitzer-Prize winning 2022 novel Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver spent time in Lee County, Va., the drug-ravaged southern Appalachian region where it's set (about an hour and a half from her home). She sat down with people in active addiction, as well as those in recovery, and listened to their stories. 'I gained so much compassion, and I wanted to do something,' she says. 'I thought, 'Lee County gave me a story—I'm going to give something back that really makes a difference.' I mean, how could I not?' After the book was published, Kingsolver traveled back to Lee County and convened a group of friends who live in the area for a breakfast meeting. If she had $100,000 to help people in addiction recovery, she asked them, where should it go? Everyone agreed that in this county with so few resources, the greatest need was for a sober home where people in recovery could live in safety and support: with counseling, transportation, and job training. 'When people leave their addiction behind, they almost always leave behind their whole word,' Kingsolver says. 'People come out of addiction with no social capital at all, no friends, no skills, no education, no transportation or even a driver's license. Addiction strips you of all those things.' Kingsolver found the 'perfect house,' doubled her investment, and used her royalties from Demon Copperhead to turn it into a recovery home for people battling addiction. The Higher Ground Women's Recovery Residence opened in 2025, and Kingsolver and her team are already working on expansion plans. Readers around the world have embraced the project along with the Lee County community. Fans in Switzerland raised money to order porch furniture for the house. The local community college offered free tuition for women residents to take classes, and nearby attorneys have donated their services. 'I think the happiest part of this is that it went from a wild dream or a wish in my head to an actual house—a beautiful house with a red door and a red roof and women inside who are getting their lives back,' she says. 'It's unstoppable at this point. I think it's going to grow and grow.'
USA Today
07-02-2025
- Business
- USA Today
How Talking Animal Books is bringing a love of reading to Texas
How Talking Animal Books is bringing a love of reading to Texas Independent bookstores are the heartbeats of their communities. They provide culture and community, generate local jobs and sales tax revenue, promote literacy and education, champion and center diverse and new authors, connect readers to books in a personal and authentic way, and actively support the right to read and access to books in their communities. Each week we profile an independent bookstore, sharing what makes each one special and getting their expert book recommendations. This week we have Katy Lemieux and Valerie Walizadeh, co-owners of Talking Animal Books in Grapevine, Texas! What's your store's story? We opened Talking Animals' doors in February 2023. Our store is the only bookstore in Grapevine, a massive tourism and travel hub housing DFW International Airport. Our mission is to be a place for connection, curiosity and creativity. We are 100% woman-owned and have become a space for conversation in a town where books have been banned and the topic is exceptionally touchy. Our store has only been a positive experience and we are educating the public about reading and books and their power to connect communities. What makes your independent bookstore unique? Our customers are eager for books and discussions about literature, art, and social issues. We are a historic town in a landmarked building, so we always try to incorporate the history of our town into our business. We have a children's reading nook with a bank teller window as an homage to its original iteration as a bank in 1900. The Bonnie and Clyde gang later robbed that bank, and we have happily adopted this trivia into our store in a small museum gallery alcove. In less than a year we have presented numerous events with authors and speakers that have been well-attended. We are known as champions for public education and reading, as well as a measured, welcome, and inclusive spot for everyone. What's your favorite section in your store? Our reading nook is the best spot! I never get tired of hearing, "Oh, wow!" when a child crawls inside and sees the twinkling lights above them. In addition to that, we love curating thoughtful theater and poetry sections. What book do you love to recommend to customers and why? Lately, "Demon Copperhead," as the epic nature of its scope struck me. Barbara Kingsolver has such a unique way of writing about America in a nuanced way that follows the characters and illuminates something almost unreachable. "The Red Pony," by John Steinbeck, is one of my favorite short stories and was hugely important to me when I first read it as a teen. It was the first time I had considered the totality of grief and what it means to lose something that meant the world to you. Why is shopping at local, independent bookstores important? We tell customers that when they shop local, their money actually impacts the community's economy. We pay a lot of money in taxes! And we remind people that those taxes make everything fun about our town possible. We are a city that thrives on small business success and it is gratifying to see a retail destination like ours work in tandem with local business owners. What are some of your store's events, programs, or partnerships coming up that you would like to share? Events make our bookstore fun, and midnight release parties are our favorites! On Jan. 20, we collaborated with Always Booked for an Onyx Storm event. Always Booked is a super fun new podcast that also does events with small businesses around town. We love our midnight parties because some guests go home and read straight through the night – that is our kind of reader. The gals at Always Booked put together the most fantastic event down to the tiniest detail. We can't wait for the next one! Every Saturday, we feature local author-led storytimes. In February, we are excited to welcome Cappy McGarr, an Emmy and NAACP Image Award-nominated producer, co-creator, and Executive Producer of The Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize and the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. He has served on the Kennedy Center Board of Trustees under two presidents and as Executive Producer of White House musical performances honoring legends like Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney. McGarr is also the Co-Founder of the Lincoln Awards for veterans and military families and the author of "The Man Who Made Mark Twain Famous." He'll join us in the store to share his new children's book, "Sis Boom Baa!: The Adventures of Princess Lil' Cap and Sir Hud the Brave." Whether you're a fan of gripping horror or spicy romance, we've got a book club for you: Horror Book Club: "The Amityville Horror" by Jay Anson "The Amityville Horror" by Jay Anson Fiction Book Club: "Lion Women of Tehran" by Marjan Kamali "Lion Women of Tehran" by Marjan Kamali Romance Book Club: "Puck and Prejudice" by Lia Riley "Puck and Prejudice" by Lia Riley Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book Club: "Piranesi" by Susanna Clarke "Piranesi" by Susanna Clarke High School : "Once Upon a Broken Heart" Stephanie Garber : "Once Upon a Broken Heart" Stephanie Garber TAB Manager Emmalie's Lit Lounge: "Your Driver is Waiting" by Priya Guns North Texas Teen Book Festival (NTTBF) Mark your calendars for one of the biggest literary events of the year! Educator Day: Feb. 28 Feb. 28 Festival Day: March 1 We'll be there with thousands of booklovers and some of the most exciting authors in YA literature (like R.L. Stine!!). Don't miss this chance to celebrate the joy of reading with North Texas teens and educators. Come read with us! February is going to be unforgettable!
New York Times
07-02-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Demon Copperhead' Explored Addiction. Its Profits Built a Rehab Center.
When Barbara Kingsolver was writing 'Demon Copperhead,' a novel that explores the devastating effects of the opioid crisis in southern Appalachia, she was doubtful that people would want to read about such a grim subject. To draw readers in, she knew she would have to ground the narrative in real stories and push against stereotypes about the region. So she traveled to Lee County, Va., a corner of Appalachia that's been battered by drug abuse, and spoke to residents whose lives had been wrecked by opioids. 'I sat down and spent many hours with people talking about their addiction journey,' Kingsolver said. 'There are stories that went straight into the book.' Published in 2022, the novel was an instant success, in time selling three million copies and winning a Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 2023. But even before the novel came out, Kingsolver felt indebted to the people who shared their stories. 'I felt like, I am getting a novel from this place, and I'm going to give something back,' she said. Kingsolver decided to use her royalties from 'Demon Copperhead' to fund a recovery program for people battling addiction. In a social media post this week, Kingsolver announced that she has founded a recovery house for women in Lee County, where the novel is set. The center, 'Higher Ground Women's Recovery Residence,' will house between eight and 12 women recovering from drug addiction, offering them a place to stay, for a small fee, for up to two years, as well as counseling and other forms of support, like free community college classes. Kingsolver grew up in rural Kentucky and lives on a farm in Virginia. As someone raised in the region, she said, she felt she couldn't ignore the opioid epidemic in her fiction. But she struggled for years with how to write about the issue in a way that would make readers pay attention. While on a book tour in England, Kingsolver stayed in a bed-and-breakfast where Charles Dickens had worked on his novel 'David Copperfield,' and found inspiration in the story and its resilient young narrator. In 'Demon Copperhead,' which is loosely based on Dickens' novel, Kingsolver tells the story of Damon Fields, a boy who is born to a single teenage mother who struggles with drug addiction. He ends up in foster care and later succumbs to opioid abuse. As soon as the novel was released, she resolved to find a tangible way to help people whose lives have been upended by addiction. 'The first week that this book hit the stores and was so successful, I said OK, I'm going to bring this home, I'm going to be able to do something concrete with this book that will help the people who told me their stories,' she said. 'I had these royalties that 'Demon' brought me. I took that money and went back to Lee County and said, what can we do with this?' The biggest need, she learned, was for support for recovering addicts, who often had no housing or job prospects. She and her husband, Steven Hopp, started a nonprofit, 'Higher Ground,' to create a residential home for women, and provided the funds for the nonprofit to purchase the property last summer. A grand opening is planned for this spring, Kingsolver said, but some residents have already moved in. Kingsolver said she's been heartened by support the project has received from local organizations, including church groups that have helped get the living space in shape, a local store that donated furniture and a grant from the Lee County Community Foundation. 'You might, in earlier times, have expected stigma, for people not to be open to this, but instead it's been, 'Yes in my backyard,'' Kingsolver said. 'This is the reality of where we live,' she continued. 'Everybody knows someone touched by the opioid epidemic.'
