June 1, 2022, MOUNT VERNON, OHIO— The Public Library of Mount Vernon and Knox County welcomes Appalachian author Alison Stine on Tuesday, June 21 as part of our “Ohio Writer Series.” Mocktails will be served, followed by a reading and discussion of Alison Stine’s novel, Trashlands, moderated by Orchid Tierney, professor of English at Kenyon College. Ohio Writers Series events are held at the Main Library’s Outdoor Annex/West Parking Lot at 201 N. Mulberry Street (rain site: Urton Clockhouse in Ariel Foundation Park).
Trashlands is a futuristic novel about Coral, a woman who salvages plastic after an environmental disaster leaves Appalachian Ohio in a state of collapse. Coral seeks solace in making art and finding beauty in a dangerous, frightening world. Desperate to reunite with a son who was trafficked into factory work, Coral must decide what she’s willing to risk to save her family. A gripping novel with a set of unforgettably complicated and fascinating characters, Trashlands was recently nominated for the 2022 Ohioana Book Award in fiction. The LA Times called it a “ballad to love in a time of darkness,” and the novel is currently longlisted for the 2022 Reading the West Book Award.
Alison Stine is originally from southern Ohio. She is also the author of the novel Road Out of Winter,which was a selection for The Rumpus Book Club, and won the 2021 Philip K. Dick Award. She has published three poetry collections and a novella. Her next novel, Dust, will be published by Wednesday Books (Macmillan) in fall 2023. The Recipient of an Individual Artist Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, an Ohio Arts Council grant, a Sustainable Arts grant, and a reporting grant from National Geographic, Stine was a Wallace Stegner Fellow at Stanford University, a Ruth Lilly Fellow from the Poetry Foundation, and received the Studs Terkel Award for Media and Journalism. Partially deaf, she writes as the staff culture writer for Salon, and has also reported for The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic, 100 Days in Appalachia, and more.
This program is part of the Humanities Grants for Libraries, an initiative of the American Library Association (ALA) made possible with funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) through the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The ALA/ARPA grant also provides 25 copies of Alison Stine’s Trashlands for a small book giveaway. The giveaway begins on Monday, June 6th. Interested patrons can stop by the Main Library at 201 N. Mulberry Street during business hours, while supplies last.
Upcoming Ohio Writers Series events include Marcus Jackson (July 12), Joey Kim and Ayendy Bonifacio (August 9) and Ira Sukrungruang (September 20). The Library’s reading series is a collaboration with Mount Vernon Arts Consortium, the Kenyon Review, and Kenyon College Office for Community Partnerships.
Reservations are encouraged, but not required for this program. Visit www.knox.net, email knoxwrites1@gmail.com or call (740) 392-BOOK ext 259 for more information.
Please note that in the event of inclement weather, this event will be relocated to Ariel Foundation Park’s Urton Clockhouse, 10 Pittsburgh Avenue, Mount Vernon. A public announcement will be made no later than 4pm on the day of the event.
