Delicious Reads 2023

About the Event

Join Hub City Writers Project's biennial fundraiser, Delicious Reads, on March 12, 2023 at 2:00 P.M. Attendees have the chance to meet 19 authors of recently published books. Attendees will be seated with six other guests, plus an author. They will have seven minutes to chat, ask questions, and learn about that author's book(s). After seven minutes the authors will rotate, allowing each author to visit seven tables.

Tickets are $45 for non-members and $40 for members. A limited number of tables are available for $300, perfect for book clubs! Find tickets at the link below or at Hub City Bookshop.

TICKETS

About the Authors

Melanie McGee Bianchi is the author of The Ballad of Cherrystoke & Other Stories, a collection of short fiction published in 2022 by Blackwater Press and distributed in the U.S. and the UK. The title story and the book have received national acclaim (recognized respectively in the Summer Prize Issue of the Mississippi Review and as a “Distinguished Favorite” in the Short Stories category of the NYC Big Book Awards). Other stories in the book have appeared in print literary magazines from Atlanta to Ireland. Melanie has worked as a lifestyle journalist in Asheville, NC, for more than 25 years, and is currently the editor of three magazines: Asheville Made, Bold Life, and Carolina Home + Garden. She has published humor essays, poetry, and hundreds of feature articles. Melanie has received Pushcart Nominations for poetry and fiction, was a finalist for the Black Warrior Review Chapbook Poetry Prize, and holds a Gold Award for special-section editing from the International Festivals & Events Association. She lives in Asheville, NC, with her husband and teenage son.

Micah Cash is a visual artist, educator, and writer. His projects use the visual languages of landscape and architecture to investigate narratives of history, utilization, and economics. A second edition of his most recent photography book, Waffle House Vistas, was published by The Bitter Southerner in 2023. The project has received international recognition and widespread acclaim. Micah’s first book, Dangerous Waters: A Photo Essay on the Tennessee Valley Authority, published by University of Tennessee Press, chronicled the contemporary cultural relevance and impact of the TVA’s hydroelectric dams. 

Micah exhibits nationally, and his work is represented in private collections throughout North American and Europe. Micah received his MFA from the University of Connecticut and his bachelor’s degree from the University of South Carolina.

Wiley Cash is the New York Times bestselling author of four novels, the founder of This Is Working, and the books editor at The Assembly. He’s been a fellow at Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony. He currently teaches fiction writing and literature at the University of North Carolina-Asheville, where he serves as Alumni Author-in-Residence. He lives in North Carolina with his wife, photographer Mallory Cash, and their daughters Early and Juniper.

John Cribb is a bestselling author who has written about subjects ranging from history to education. His novel Old Abe has been hailed for its vivid portrayal of Abraham Lincoln. His previous work includes coauthoring The American Patriot’s Almanac and The Educated Child, both New York Times bestsellers; co-editing The Human Odyssey, a 3-volume world history text; and developing on-line history courses. He has appeared on numerous TV, radio, and podcast shows such as C-SPAN’s Washington Journal and Fox News’s Fox & Friends, and his writing has been published in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, FoxNews.com, The Hill, Real Clear Politics, and several other publications.

Anjali Enjeti is a former attorney, organizer, and award-winning journalist based near Atlanta. She is the author of Southbound: Essays on Identity, Inheritance, and Social Change, and The Parted Earth, published by Hub City Press. She is the recipient of the 2022 Georgia Author of the Year Award for First Novel, a gold medal for Best Regional Nonfiction from the Independent Publisher Book Awards, and is a finalist for the 2023 Townsend Prize for Fiction. Her other writing has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Harper’s Bazaar, Oxford American, and elsewhere. A former board member of the National Book Critics Circle, she teaches creative writing in the MFA programs at Antioch University in Los Angeles and Reinhardt University.

Benjamin Gilmer, M.D., is a family medicine physician in Asheville, North Carolina. He is an Albert Schweitzer Fellow for Life and associate professor in the department of family medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine at Chapel Hill and at the Mountain Area Health Education Center (MAHEC). A former neurobiologist turned rural family doctor, Dr. Gilmer has lectured widely about medical ethics, rural health, and the intersection of medicine and criminal justice reform. He is a passionate teacher of medical education and leads MAHEC’s Rural Health Initiative, a program to inspire and train students to pursue rural medicine and advocacy. 

His recently released book, “The Other Dr. Gilmer,” is based on a true story he told on This American Life in 2013 with Sarah Koenig. It has been recognized by the New York Times, Washington Post, People magazine and was one of the “Best books of 2022” by the NYC Public Library. The story has inspired Benjamin to be an advocate for prison reform and to teach students about the importance of advocacy in medicine. 

He lives with his wife, Deirdre; their two children, Kai and Luya; and their dog, Prince Peanut Butter, in Asheville, North Carolina.

Victoria Hood (she/her) holds an MA in English from the University of Maine. Her work has been published in Interpret Magazine, pioneertown, Selcouth Station, JAKE, G*MOB Magazine, and Meow Meow Pow Pow Lit. She is also the winner of FC2’s 2021 Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize, for her collection of short stories My Haunted Home released by FC2. Victoria’s poetry chapbook Death and Darlings was published in 2022 by Bottlecap Press. Victoria strives to create work that can meld together the punk roots her parents raised her in with the disillusionment of losing her mother at a young age. Overall, she hopes to discomfort, humor and charm.

Meagan Lucas is the author of the award-winning novel, Songbirds and Stray Dogs (2019) and the forthcoming collection, Here in the Dark (Shotgun Honey, July 2023).  Meagan’s short work can be found in places like Still: The Journal, Bull Magazine, Pithead Chapel and others. Meagan’s writing is Pushcart, Best of the Net, Derringer, and Canadian Crime Writers’ Award of Excellence nominated, won the 2017 Scythe Prize for Fiction, and Songbirds and Stray Dogs was North Carolina’s selection for the Library of Congress Center for the Book’s 2022 Route 1 Reads program. She teaches Creative Writing at Robert Morris University and is the Editor-in-Chief of Reckon Review. Born and raised on a small island in Northern Ontario, she now calls the mountains of Western North Carolina home. 

Marjy Marj is a Ghanaian American writer based in South Carolina. After graduating from the Universities of Ghana and Baltimore, she pursued further studies at Duke University. Marjy is the host of Humanity Chats, a globally ranked podcast about everyday issues impacting humans. She is the author of seven books.

The 2019 North Carolina Piedmont Laureate, David Menconi is an award-winning journalist and author in Raleigh, North Carolina. He spent 34 years writing for daily newspapers, 28 of those years at the Raleigh News & Observer. He has also written for The Bluegrass Situation, Spin, Billboard, Rolling Stone, No Depression, New York Times and salon.com.

His degrees include a Master’s in journalism from the University of Texas and an undergraduate degree from Southwestern University. He has published four books, most recently “Step It Up and Go: The Story of North Carolina Popular Music, from Blind Boy Fuller and Doc Watson to Nina Simone and Superchunk.” It won the 2021 North Caroliniana Society Book Award and is also a 2023 "North Carolina Reads" selection by the NC Humanities Council.

In addition to hosting a podcast, “Carolina Calling,” Menconi edits a new series of music books that will launch in the fall of 2023 on University of North Carolina Press with his next book, “Oh Didn't They Ramble: Rounder Records and the Transformation of American Roots Music,” a history of the independent folk label Rounder Records.

Annabel Monaghan is the author of IndieNext and LibraryReads pick Nora Goes Off Script as well as two young adult novels and Does This Volvo Make My Butt Look Big?, a selection of laugh-out-loud columns that appeared in the Huffington Post, the Week, and the Rye Record. She lives in Rye, New York, with her family.

Adam Parker earned two degrees in music, then spent a decade in the business world before going back to school for a graduate degree in journalism from Columbia University. At The Post and Courier, he has worked on several beats over the years, including religion, the arts and, most recently, race and history. A long-time student of the civil rights movement and race in America, he has written extensively about the African-American experience. He is the author of the biography “Outside Agitator: The Civil Rights Struggle of Cleveland Sellers Jr.,” published by Hub City Press in 2018, and “Us: A Journalist’s Look at the Culture, Conflict, and Creativity of the South,” published by Evening Post Books.

Deborah Goodrich Royce’s thrillers examine puzzles of identity. Ruby Falls won the Zibby Award for Best Plot Twist in 2021 and Finding Mrs. Ford was hailed by Forbes, Book Riot, and Good Morning America’s “best of” lists in 2019.

She began as an actress on All My Children and in multiple films, before transitioning to the role of story editor at Miramax Films, developing Emma and early versions of Chicago and A Wrinkle in Time. With her husband, Chuck, Deborah restored the Avon Theatre, Ocean House Hotel, Deer Mountain Inn, United Theatre, Savoy Bookstore, and numerous Main Street revitalization projects in Rhode Island and the Catskills. She serves on the governing and advisory boards of the American Film Institute, Greenwich International Film Festival, New York Botanical Garden, Greenwich Historical Society, and the PRASAD Project.

Deborah holds a bachelor’s degree in modern foreign languages and an honorary doctorate of humane letters from Lake Erie College.

Kashmira Sheth writes picture books, middle grade novels, and young adult fiction. Her books have received several awards, including the Asian/Pacific American Librarian Association Honor Award, the International Reading Association’s Notable Book for a Global Society, and the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults. Her novels have been translated into many languages including French, Hebrew, Swedish, Korean etc. Kashmira was on the faculty at Pine Manor College in the Solstice Low-Residency MFA program and teaches at the Highlights Foundation.

Her most recent work is the Nina Soni chapter book series (First published October 2019) from Peachtree Publishers. The sixth title, Nina Soni, Perfect Hostess will come out in Spring 2023.

 Kashmira was born and raised in India and comes from a family of storytellers.  Although she spent several years as a scientist, her love of reading and stories nudged her into writing. In addition to writing, she loves travel, gardening, yoga, and daydreaming. 

George Singleton has published eight collections of stories, two novels, and a book of writing advice. Over 200 of his stories have appeared in magazines such as the Atlantic Monthly, Harper’s, Playboy, the Georgia Review, the Southern Review, the Cincinnati Review, and elsewhere. He is the recipient of a Pushcart Prize, a Guggenheim fellowship, the Hillsdale Award from the Fellowship of Southern Writers, and the Corrington Award for Literary Excellence. He lives in Spartanburg, SC.

Karen Tucker is the author of the novel BEWILDERNESS (Catapult 2021), which was longlisted for the Aspen Words Literary Prize, shortlisted for the Crook's Corner Book Prize, and selected as a "Dazzling Debut" and Indie Next Pick by the American Booksellers Association. Tucker's fiction can be found in The Missouri Review, The Yale Review, LitHub, Boulevard,  EPOCH, Tin House, American Literary Review, Salamander, and elsewhere.

Her awards include an Elizabeth George Foundation Grant for Emerging Writers, the George M. Harper Award for Creative Writing, the Jerome Stern Series Spotlight Award in fiction, and a PEO Scholar Award. Born and raised in North Carolina, she teaches fiction and creative nonfiction at UNC Chapel Hill.

John Vercher lives in the Philadelphia area with his wife and two sons. He holds a Bachelor’s in English from the University of Pittsburgh and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Mountainview Master of Fine Arts program. He currently serves as visiting faculty at Randolph College’s low-residency MFA program in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Chatham University’s low-residency MFA program in Pittsburgh, PA. 

John's non-fiction work has appeared in Entropy Magazine, CrimeReads, Booklist, and LitHub. He has appeared WBUR’s Weekend Edition and NPR’s Fresh Air with Dave Davies. John’s debut novel, Three-Fifths, was named one of the best books of 2019 by the Chicago Tribune. In the U.K., Three-Fifths was named a Book of the Year by The Sunday Times, The Financial Times, and The Guardian. His second novel, After the Lights Go Out, was published by Soho Press on June 7, 2022. French, Swedish, and U.K. rights have also been sold. It’s been called “simply brilliant” by Publishers Weekly in a starred review and “shrewd and explosive” by The New York Times. BookRiot selected the novel as a 2022 Best Book of the Summer, Publishers Weekly included it in their Summer Reads 2022 list, and Booklist named it an Editors’ Choice in Adult Fiction for 2022.

Daniel Wolff is an award-winning author of numerous books, including Grown-Up Anger: The Connected Mysteries of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, and the Calumet Massacre of 1913 and The Fight for Home: How (Parts of) New Orleans Came Back.

Phoebe Zerwick is an award-winning journalist, narrative writer, and college professor. Her 2022 book, Beyond Innocence, The Life Sentence of Darryl Hunt, was shortlisted for the Southern Book Award in nonfiction.  Her writing has appeared in O, The Oprah Magazine; National Geographic; The Nation; the Winston-Salem Journal; The Washington Post; and Glamour, among other publications and recognized by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University, Investigative Reporters and Editors, the Society of Professional Journalists, Columbia University, and the North Carolina Press Association. A graduate of the Journalism School at Columbia University, Zerwick is the director of the journalism program at Wake Forest University, where she teaches writing and journalism. She lives in Winston-Salem with her husband, a dog, and three cats. Between them, they have three grown children.