Winner of the National Book Award for her short story collection Victory Over Japan, Ellen Gilchrist has entertained audiences with her vivid fictional portraits of strong women, eccentric lives, and the difficulties of love and life. Known both for her short fiction and her novels, Gilchrist has been awarded several honors throughout her career, and her work continues to receive both critical and popular acclaim. This book examines her fiction, book by book, and offers an appreciation of her craft through a careful analysis of the stories themselves, their critical reception, and their lasting effect on the reader. Hooper offers the first complete evaluation of Gilchrist's entire fiction oeuvre. Author of such works as In the Land of Dreamy Dreams, The Annunciation, Go Hunting with My Daddy, and several other novels and collections of short stories, Ellen Gilchrist has transcended the bounds of Southern writing, appealing to audiences in all corners of the nation. Here, Hooper celebrates her fiction, focusing on the strong, feisty female characters that populate her works, exerting their will and independence regardless of traditional restraints on their activities. In addition, he pays special attention to her strengths and weaknesses as both a short fiction writer and a novelist, arguing that while her novels may entertain, her lasting contribution to American letters can more easily be found in her short fiction.

As a short-story writer, Alice Munro has achieved high critical and popular regard in both her native Canada and in the United States. Indeed, Munro has been adopted by the entire English-speaking world as one of its own, and her work has received many awards and honors. In the U.S., she is roundly regarded as one of the best--if not the best--contemporary writers of the short story, and one of the greatest living fiction writers. Here, Brad Hooper takes readers through her fiction, work by work, discussing the themes, forms, techniques, and styles she employs to make her work come alive. Munro has "founded" her own brand of the short story: longer than traditionally practiced in the short-story form and encompassing broader time frames. Her stories are primarily character studies that explore the impact of physical and mental isolation in adolescence, middle age, and into elder years. Hooper traces Munro's evolving definition of the short story form and surveys the fiction in an effort to elucidate the works for newcomers and enthusiasts alike.

From hosting authors to planning and coordinating book activities such as book signings and book clubs, libraries are perfect venues for readers to interact directly with authors and their books. And mounting literary programming can be easier than you might think. In this guide Booklist's Brad Hooper inspires, encourages, and advises librarians in providing a wide range of programming that targets their communities of book lovers. Incorporating interviews from librarians in the field who share insider tips, this resource includes step-by-step guidance adaptable to any type of audience, from children and teens to millennials and older adults; shows how to plan author readings, coordinate book signings, and put together and moderate an author panel; offers marketing and outreach pointers, including interviewing authors for local radio, library podcasts, or webinars; lays out the nuts-and-bolts of organizing and hosting book clubs, with suggestions for facilitating book group discussions; presents ideas for creating displays of "staff favorites" and other ways to get staff involved and engaged; and explores programs for community-wide book events, such as "One Book, One City." Using this guide, libraries can connect book lovers eager to learn about recent and noteworthy books to authors and fellow book lovers.

Hundreds of popular historical fiction titles are described and categorized according to their underlying appeal features, and under topics and themes you'll never find in the library catalog—women with true grit, greatest war stories, royalty rules, quick reads, humor, and many others. Use these unconventional, sometimes whimsical, reading lists to identify read-alikes rooted in shared appeal features or in the specific characteristics on which the lists are based. You can also post individual lists on your library Web site, put them in your newsletter, or use them for patron handouts to encourage circulation and reading. Historical fiction readers and fans looking for new reading material will enjoy browsing through this book and using it for checklists or reading plans. Readers' advisors who wish to better acquaint themselves with the genre and its newer publications, particularly in terms of appeal features, will find it useful as well A great new approach to one of today's hottest genres —historical fiction. Hooper categorizes and describes hundreds of popular historical fiction titles—not according to places or time periods or subgenres, but according to their underlying appeal features, and under topics and themes you'll never find in the library catalog—women with true grit, greatest war stories, the corridors of power, royalty rules, humor, nostalgic and elegiac historical fiction, quick reads, history's forgotten heroes, and many others. More than 400 of the best and most current historical fiction titles are covered, with some popular classics also included. For each title, there is bibliographic information and a lively plot summary designed to spark reader interest. These unconventional, sometimes whimsical, reading lists can be used to identify read-alikes rooted in shared appeal features or in the specific characteristics on which the lists are based. You can post specific lists on your library Web site, put them in your newsletter, or use them for patron handouts to encourage circulation and reading. Historical fiction readers and fans looking for new reading material will enjoy browsing through this book and using it for checklists, reading plans, or as a book club resource. Readers' advisors who wish to better acquaint themselves with the genre and its newer publications, particularly in terms of appeal features, will find it useful as well. In fact, libraries will want to order multiple copies—one for the readers' advisor and reference desk, and one for the circulating collection.