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This free literary event has been generously underwritten by Richard and Mari Tamez.
UPDATE: This event is full. If you would like to be added to the waitlist, please add your information below.
The San Antonio Book Festival is proud to present “An Evening with Paulette Jiles,” author of News of the World, which was a finalist for the National Book Award this year. Jiles will speak briefly about her book then be joined in conversation by our Literary Director, Clay Smith. After audience Q&A, there will be book sales and signing. This event kicks off SABF’s new “Get Lit” book club; join us for an evening of stimulating conversation. Cash bar.
About the author: Paulette Jiles is a poet and memoirist. She is the author of Cousins, a memoir, and the bestselling author of the novels Enemy Women, Stormy Weather, The Color of Lightning, and Lighthouse Island. Her novel, News of the World, was a finalist in fiction for the National Book Award. She lives on a ranch near San Antonio, TX. Learn more about Paulette Jiles at paulettejiles.com.
About the book: 1870, North Texas, rainy and cold. Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels from town to town giving readings from the latest newspapers, bringing the news of the world to isolated towns on the Texas frontier. In Wichita Falls, he is asked to return a captive girl to her relatives near San Antonio, 400 miles to the south. The old man and the ten-year-old start out on a hazardous journey, no less risky because the girl considers herself now a Kiowa and does not have the slightest desire to return. Bandits and Comanche raids and violent weather make as many difficulties as the ten-year old girl who can’t speak English, eats with her hands and knows how to use a revolver. In the end, he finds he must return her to relatives who don’t want her, even though he and the girl have become trusting friends. A story of courage and honor and the truth that these two things are often the possession of even the unlikeliest people.
Read reviews from Kirkus Reviews, The New York Times, and The Washington Post.
