Thursday, October 15 will be a busy evening in Lawrence Kansas. At 6:00 pm, zombies will take to Massachusetts Street for their annual walk from South Park. The bibliozombies among them will continue their stroll to Abe & Jake’s Landing, where they will have a rare opportunity to hear Karen Russell, one of America’s great creative writers, speak on “Literary, Geographic and Ghostly Influences.”
It is only fitting that Karen Russell’s visit to Lawrence coincides with the Zombie Walk. After all, Russell has made her mark writing stories about such oddities as a family that operates an alligator wrestling theme park in the Florida Everglades, a Japanese silk factory where young women must drink a potion that transforms them into silkworms, and United States presidents who are reincarnated into horses living on a farm and, with John Adam’s leadership, plan an escape.
I swear I’m not making this up.
Karen Russell is a creative force on the national fiction writers’ scene, and Lawrence is incredibly fortunate to have her stopping by for a visit. Her debut novel, Swamplandia!, was chosen by The New York Times as one of the Ten Best Books of 2011, long-listed for The Orange Prize, and was a Pulitzer Prize finalist. Russell has been featured in the 20 Under 40 list by The New Yorker, and was chosen as one of Granta’s Best Young American Novelists. In 2009, she received the 5 Under 35 award from the National Book Foundation. In 2013 she was named a recipient of a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant,” the youngest of that year’s 24 winners.
Russell is also the author of the celebrated short story collection St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. Her second collection of short stories, Vampires in the Lemon Grove, was published in 2013.
Karen Russell is the featured author for the 2015 Ross and Marianna Beach Author Series; A gift to our community from the Ross and Marianna Beach Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities, this special series brings a prominent author to Lawrence each year. The series debuted last year with National Book Award winner James McBride, who gave an unforgettable performance of words and music at Liberty Hall. This year’s event with Karen Russell promises to be just as entertaining.
Russell’s presentation begins at 7:30 pm on Thursday, October 15 at Abe & Jake’s Landing. Doors open at 7:00 pm. The event requires tickets, which will be available at Lawrence Public Library’s Welcome Desk. Ticket distribution begins on Thursday, October 1 (limit 4). The event is free and open to the public (as well as to bibliozombies).
