Join us on May 24, from 10:30AM–12:00PM, for a discussion of Barbara Kingsolver’s newest novel, Demon Copperhead. Fans of this prolific author won’t want to miss this exploration of her 2022 stunner, a Dickensian tale set in Southern Appalachia.
The CLS Book Club has become a space for conversations about wide ranging topics. A FREE, in-person event open to the public, it’s a thrilling opportunity to engage in ideas and topics raised in some of the most interesting releases to hit bookshelves lately—regardless of whether you’ve finished the book, are thinking about starting it, or couldn’t make it past the half-way point. All that is required is an RSVP.
To RSVP, please fill out the form at the bottom of the page.
About the Author and Book:
Demon Copperhead, Barbara Kingsolver’s modern recasting of the Dickens classic David Copperfield, is an innovative story of a young boy’s struggles and persistence as he grows up in southern Appalachia. Demon Copperhead was one of two class-conscious novels to win The Pulitzer Prize for fiction on Monday, May 8 (along with Hernan Diaz’s narrative of class and wealth set in the 1920’s, Trust). This is the first time the Pulitzers have awarded two fiction books in the category’s 105-year history. Officials have declined to name a fiction winner several times, mostly recently in 2012.
Demon Copperhead was chosen by Oprah Winfrey last fall for her book club and named by The Washington Post as a top release of 2022. Kingsolver has long woven social issues into her novels, which also include The Bean Trees and The Poisonwood Bible, and helped establish the PEN/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction.
A longtime resident of Appalachia who currently lives on a farm in southwestern Virginia, Kingsolver set her novel “close by,” and recently said that she regards the Pulitzer as an affirmation not just of her novel, but of a misunderstood and overlooked part of the country. “I wrote this book for my people because we are so invisible to the rest of the world and so persistently misrepresented,” Kingsolver said. “I couldn’t be happier (about the Pulitzer) for this reason.