LITERARY WOMEN
Celebrating Women Authors Since 1982
Author selections for the Festival February 11, 2023
Aamina Ahmad
Profoundly intimate and propulsive, The Return of Faraz Ali is a spellbindingly assured first novel that poses a timeless question: Whom do we choose to protect, and at what price? Aamina Ahmad sets her expertly crafted tale in the labyrinthine alleyways of the notorious red-light district of Lahore, Pakistan, where an investigator sent to hush up the violent murder of a young girl finds himself reckoning with his past.
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Nina de Gramont
Intrigue, love, loss, and murder all play a lively turn in Nina de Gramont’s fast paced and deliciously clever mystery, The Christie Affair. This nuanced tale explains the long unsolved 11 days in 1926 when famed novelist Agatha Christie went missing in the English countryside. Told through the eyes of Agatha’s husband’s mistress, this marvelous historical fiction is elegantly structured with more questions than answers until the subtle details are fully revealed at the end.
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Laurie Frankel
Three unforgettable narrators tell a spellbinding story with wit, wonder, and deep affection in Laurie Frankel’s latest novel, One Two Three. This “warm, funny tour de force” explores how expanding our notions of normal makes the world a better place for everyone and how, when days are darkest, it’s our daughters who will save us all. A very different story indeed— “one that is delightfully memorable and wildly empowering.”
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Xochitl Gonzalez
This intelligent and vibrant debut novel was one of the most anticipated releases of 2022. Xochitl Gonzalez seamlessly weaves together a story of complex family dynamics, the history and culture of Puerto Rico, gentrification, and how the American dream of wealth and fame doesn’t necessarily lead to personal happiness. Olga Dies Dreaming is a thought-provoking story that leads the reader to ask, “What exactly is the American dream?”
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Nana Nkweti
This impressive debut collection, Walking on Cowrie Shells, offers ten original stories that are heartbreaking, satirical, and laugh-out-loud funny. Nana Nkweti writes stories across a variety of genres on very different subjects. From a Comic Con Convention in New York to a difficult birthing in a Cameroonian village, these stories are filled with unforgettable characters etched in impeccable prose.
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Nita Prose
Lovers of mysteries, take note! Nita Prose’s debut novel, The Maid, brings a unique perspective to a whodunit. One of the delights of reading this book lies in getting to know the one-of-a-kind heroine, Molly Gray, maid extraordinaire at the posh Regency Grand Hotel. While “bringing the room to perfection,” she discovers a dead body. This book will make you laugh, cry, and think, but mostly it will make you want to keep reading.
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Mary Roach
If you Google “America’s funniest science writer,” Mary Roach is the name that comes up! Specializing in the more bizarre aspects of science, she answers questions you didn’t even know you had. Her latest fascinating and witty adventure down the rabbit hole, Fuzz: When Nature Breaks the Law, explores the tricky terrain where humans and wildlife overlap… and often collide.
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