Description

About the Book: After Romilly's mother's death of a strange fever years ago, neighbors and family fled her village. Bereft, her father becomes increasingly withdrawn, revealing little of their family history that Romilly longs to understand. When her beloved uncle mysteriously disappears from his boat on a cloudless night at sea, she senses her father's growing terror-- a terror she shares when she spies an enormous Being opening a sail-shaped flap of sky over their wheatfield. Romilly suspects these inexplicable events are connected, but how? With the help of unlikely allies-- the healer Arra, Robbie the boisterous crow, and the kestrel Mira-- Romilly must convince her father to dismantle the wall to his greatest secret, and that of the Being that exists in the world beyond. 

About the Author: Karen Holmberg’s two poetry volumes are The Perseids (winner of the Vassar Miller Prize/University of North Texas Press) and Axis Mundi (winner of the John Ciardi Prize/BkMk Press). In addition to poetry, she publishes lyric essays and art criticism, appearing in At Length, Tupelo Quarterly, and New England Review, among other places. Her first young adult novel, The Collagist, won the 2021 Acheven Prize and was published by Regal Press/Fitzroy Editions in the spring of 2024. She teaches British Literature, poetry writing, and letterpress printing at Oregon State University, where she is on the MFA in Creative Writing faculty and runs the Moreland Letterpress Studio. This event is free and open to all, but we kindly ask that you RSVP so that we can plan accordingly.