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Writer and Richmond native Bob Deans, a longtime host of the author panel during the Book & Author event, will also participate in the discussion May 7.
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Writer Grady Hendrix will take part in the panel discussion.
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Another author panel participant is Phuc Tran.
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Also appearing is author Melissa M. Martin.
For the past 74 years, the Junior League of Richmond’s Book & Author event has involved visits by renowned authors, a dinner, luncheons, talks and signings.
Then came the plot twist of COVID-19.
“Our event was supposed to be at the Altria Theater,” says Book & Author volunteer coordinator Kayley Perkins. The event takes a year of planning. This year’s authors were announced in February, but by mid-March, with cancellations of the Broadway series and Richmond Forum, Perkins and her colleagues realized they needed to make a decision.
“We frankly discussed the options of cancellation and going virtual,” she says. When the Junior League chose the latter option it fell to Perkins, who works in training and technology for an IT firm, to make Book & Author — the longest-running event of its kind — come alive online. All the selected authors committed to the virtual experience.
“We wanted to bring something positive to people,” Perkins says. “People are home, they’ve watched as much of the news as they can stand, and they’ll want something to do at night.”
The event goes on the air through Crowdcast at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 7, and will feature six authors with their recently published works. Tickets are $20. Following purchase, you’ll receive an email with login and technical instructions. Participants don’t need to be on camera. “It’s designed to be user friendly for all generations,” Perkins says.
Book & Author can be viewed from a browser, tablet or mobile phone. The titles are offered in partnership with Richmond's Fountain Bookstore.
Among the nationally recognized authors is Richmond native Bob Deans. Host of the event for around 10 years, Deans, an accomplished journalist whose stint with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution included eight years covering the White House, is now on the roster of writers. His novel “Bicycle Man” is set outside Richmond, during the eventful spring of 1968, during which newspaper deliverer Sandy Rivers is caught up amid the upheavals of civil rights, Vietnam and a nation struggling with its identity.
“We send galley copies of the books to Bob around Christmas, and [as host of the panel discussion] he reads them and generates questions for the writers,” Perkins explains. This year, she says, “we wanted him to do double duty.”
The other authors include Grady Hendrix, with “A Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. “He describes it as ‘Fried Green Tomatoes’ meets ‘Dracula,’ ” Perkins says.
Natalie Jenner, a former book shop owner, fills the historical fiction slot with “The Jane Austen Society,” set during World War II in the town of Jane Austen’s birthplace. “It’s about how people are connected through Jane Austen’s books,” Perkins says.
New York Times bestselling author Lily King comes with “Writers & Lovers,” the story of Casey Peabody, a former golf prodigy who spirals into Massachusetts in 1997 after her mother’s death and the traumatic end of a love affair.
New Orleans restaurateur Melissa M. Martin will talk about “Mosquito Supper Club: Cajun Recipes From a Disappearing Bayou,” which Perkins describes as the most beautiful cookbook she’s ever seen. “It connects family, food and the threatened environment,” she says.
Phuc Tran shares “Sigh, Gone: A Misfit’s Memoir of Great Books, Punk Rock, and the Fight to Fit In.” “It’s a cheeky memoir about trying to fit in as a Vietnamese immigrant,” Perkins says, adding, “Even me, the English major, took a while to get the pun of the title.”
Also in the lineup is the Junior League’s own Anne Poarch and her second book of poetry, "The Grit & Joy of Being,” available for book sales and autographs. The world-traveled Poarch is founder of Basket & Bike, a local bicycle tour company.
