Library Author Series: Laura Pritchett

Library Author Series: Laura Pritchett

Monday, February 20th - 6:30 pm 

Spend an evening at the library with one of the West’s defining literary voices. Laura Pritchett joins us for the launch of her new novel, The Blue Hour.

About the Book:

“Laura Pritchett's exquisitely-linked novel of short stories—Jumpha Lahiri comes to mind—manages to be all at once poetic and funny, heart-breaking and true. And the theme of sex—its role as social bonder, marriage breaker—is so beautifully, rarely addressed. This is a snapshot of the new West, as seen from that most breathtaking perspective—the inside out.” –Alexandra Fuller, author of Leaving Before the Rains 

The Blue Hour introduces readers to the tight-knit residents of Blue Moon Mountain, nestled high in the Colorado Mountains. These neighbors form an interconnected community of those living off the land, drawn by the beauty and isolation all around them. So when, at the onset of winter, the beloved town veterinarian commits a violent act, the repercussions of that tragedy are felt all across the mountainside, upending their lives and causing their paths to twist and collide in unexpected ways.

In exploring the stirred-up population of the mountain we are presented with the melding of the erotic and the everyday: the housecleaner rediscovering her sexual appetite, the farrier who must take in his soon-to-be orphaned niece, and the ragged couple trapped in a cycle of addiction and violence. They will all rise and converge upon the blue hour—the l’heure bleue—the hour of twilight, a time of desire, lust and honesty. These strong, spirited people of Blue Moon Mountain must learn to navigate the line between violence and sex, tenderness and the hard edge of yearning, and the often confusing paths of mourning and lust.

Writing with passion for rural lives and the natural world, Laura Pritchett, who has been called “one of the most accomplished writers of the American West,” graces the land of desire in vivid prose, exploring the lengths these moving, deeply felt characters—some of whom we’ve met in Pritchett’s previous work—will traverse to protect their own.

About the Author: Laura Pritchett is the acclaimed author of nine books. She began her writing journey with the short story collection Hell's Bottom, Colorado, which won the PEN USA Award for Fiction and the Milkweed National Fiction Prize. This was followed by the novels Sky Bridge, Stars Go Blue, Red Lightning and The Blue Hour (due out Feb 2017), which garnered other major writing awards. She’s also editor of three anthologies: Pulse of the River, Home Land, and Going Green: True Tales from Gleaners, Scavengers, and Dumpster Divers. She has two nonfiction books: Great Colorado Bear Stories and the forthcoming Making Friends with Death, Kind Of, due out Sept 2017. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, O Magazine, Salon, High Country News, The Sun, Brain, Child, and many others. She holds a PhD from Purdue University and teaches around the country.

This community talk is free. 

About the Library Author Series: Bud Werner Memorial Library presents an ongoing program of author talks throughout the year. These are free community events held in Library Hall, where a diverse award-winning range of visiting authors speak about their literary works and their writing processes. Each talk is followed by a Q&A and an opportunity to have authors sign copies of their books. Books will be available for sale and author signing courtesy of Off the Beaten Path Bookstore.