‘We expect a packed house’: Q&A with Flyleaf Books on author Jacqueline Woodson

Flyleaf Books with be hosting New York Times-bestselling author Jacqueline Woodson to discuss her new adult novel, “Red at the Bone,” on Oct. 7. The book discussion will begin at 7 p.m. Tickets for the discussion are sold out. 

Arts & Culture staff writer Megan Missey spoke with Talia Smart, events manager at Flyleaf Books, about the bookstore’s hosting of the National Book Award winner and other upcoming events at the bookstore. 

DTH: What is Flyleaf Books for those who are unfamiliar? 

Talia Smart: Flyleaf Books is a general interest, new and used independent bookstore, located a couple blocks away from UNC's campus. As of right now, we are Chapel Hill's only independent bookstore. And we host over 300 events per year. 

DTH: How did Flyleaf decide to host this event? 

TS: Flyleaf's staff members are big fans of Jacqueline Woodson. She has a huge following of not only the general reading public, but also educators and librarians in the area — and she's written books for ages, and so we felt like she'd be a great addition to our events lineup.

DTH: What do you think attendees can expect from this book talk? 

TS: So, we expect a packed house. We are expecting about 180 seated. And Jacqueline Woodson is going to be in conversation with Randall Kenan, who is a local author, and I expect she will be reading a short section of her newest book, which is called, "Red at the Bone" — it's an adults' novel — and then talking to Randall. He is going to, I assume, ask her some questions about her process, her inspiration for the book. She'll answer them, and then that part of the event will be followed by a signing line for people who buy the book from us. 

DTH: What do you think University students could gain from attending? 

TS: I think that University students could get a lot from this book. A lot of students at UNC are probably familiar with Jacqueline Woodson, as she's written a lot of middle-grade novels that might have been assigned throughout the years. She's the author of "Locomotion," "Feathers" and "Brown Girl Dreaming," and so I think a lot of people are probably familiar with her name, but this is an adult novel that really addresses a lot of questions about family and identity. I think that students who are sort of used to just reading for school would gain a lot from coming out to see an author that they're already familiar with, but that could sort of allow them to explore some topics that they might not be thinking about, but also get them into reading for fun. 

DTH: What kind of events do you have coming up in the near future? 

TS: So the big events that are coming up are we have an event with the West End Poetry Festival, which is like an annual Carrboro event. We have three featured poets who are going to be reading at that event on Oct. 18 at 6:30 p.m. We have the middle-grade author Alan Gratz, who is a North Carolina native and writes adventure novels for middle school-aged kids. His newest novel is called "Allies." That event is Oct. 19 at 2 p.m. And we have Margaret Wilkerson Sexton coming on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. Her new novel is called "The Revisioners." It explores relationships among women across generations, and she was on the National Book Award nominee for her last book, "A Kind of Freedom," so we're really excited to get to host her for this new one.

arts@dailytarheel.com