117 S Pineapple Ave
Sarasota
FL 34236
“We Were the Universe”
with Hermitage Fellow Kimberly King Parsons
Presented in partnership with Bookstore1.
Kimberly King Parsons’ Hermitage Residency
Friday, June 28 at 6pm
Bookstore1 (entrance at 117 S Pineapple Ave, Sarasota, FL 34236)
Register here.
Registration is required. $5 per person.
From the author of the short story collection Black Light (National Book Award longlist) comes the highly anticipated debut novel We Were the Universe. Set in Texas and through the stream-of-consciousness narration from Kit, Hermitage Fellow Kimberly King Parsons “has created a character so appealing in her cheerful brokenness that you won’t want to leave her side for a minute.” (Kirkus Review) From trips to Oregon to acid trips, life, death, and rock’n roll, Parsons’ remarkable style has readers turning pages and discovering entirely new frames of mind. Hear selections of the novel read by this Hermitage author and dive into conversation about the writing process in Bookstore1’s intimate loft space.
Hermitage Fellow Kimberly King Parsons is the author of the forthcoming novel We Were the Universe and the short story collection Black Light, which was longlisted for the National Book Award and the Story Prize. A recipient of Fellowships from the Hermitage Artist Retreat, Yaddo, and Columbia University, Parsons won the 2020 National Magazine Award for “Foxes,” a story published in The Paris Review. She lives in Portland, Oregon with her partner and children. Born in Lubbock, Texas, Parsons earned a BA in English and an MA in Literary Studies from the University of Texas at Dallas. She then moved to New York, where she earned an MFA in Fiction from Columbia and served as the editor-in-chief of Columbia: A Journal of Literature and Art. Parsons’ book reviews and interviews have appeared in Bookforum, BOMB, Time Out New York, The Millions, and elsewhere. Parsons’ collection Black Light was a finalist for the 2020 Edmund White Award for Debut Fiction, the 2020 Texas Institute of Letters Best Work of First Fiction Award, and the 2020 Oregon Book Award.