Blue Bicycle Books, Charleston, SC


Beto O’Rourke, We’ve Got to Try, Sat., Mar. 2, 4 pm

Join us for a special event with former Texas Congressman Beto O’Rourke, Sat., Mar. 2, 4 pm as he visits Charleston to discuss We’ve Got to Try: How the Fight for Voting Rights Makes Everything Else Possible (Flatiron, pb., $19).

This event is free and open to the public. Tickets are free, with the option to pre-order a signed copy of We’ve Got To Try. Click here to reserve your tickets.

About the book:

In We’ve Got To Try, O’Rourke shines a spotlight on the heroic life and work of Dr. Lawrence Aaron Nixon and the west Texas town where he made his stand. The son of an enslaved man, Nixon grew up in the Confederate stronghold of Marshall, Texas before moving to El Paso, becoming a civil rights leader, and helping to win one of the most significant civil and voting rights victories in American history: the defeat of the all-white primary. His fight for the ballot spanned 20 years and twice took him to the U.S. Supreme Court.

About the author:

Beto O’Rourke is a fourth-generation Texan, born and raised in El Paso where he has served as a small business owner, a city council representative and a member of Congress. He founded and currently leads Powered by People, a Texas-based organization that works to expand democracy and produce Democratic victories through voter registration and direct voter engagement.

Beto is married to Amy O’Rourke and together they are raising Ulysses, Molly and Henry in El Paso’s historic Sunset Heights.



Phoebe Lapine, Carbivore, Tues., Apr. 2, EVENT CANCELLED

Join us Tues., Apr. 2 at 5:30 pm for an evening with chef and author Phoebe Lapine celebrating the release of her newest cookbook, Carbivore (Hachette Go, 352 pp., $32)

About the book:

Diet trends come and go, but over the last decade, no one food group has been vilified and misunderstood as much as carbs. A hundred years ago, our relatives got more than 50 percent of their nutrients from carbs, and yet the chronic conditions we grapple with today were rare. The good news is that carbs don’t have to be the enemy of your blood sugar or hormone health, nor are they the secret agents of inflammation.

Carbivore is a new way to reclaim your favorite comfort foods without the consequences. Whether you’re suffering from keto-fatigue, have been told carbs are off the table because of health issues, or just want to embrace food freedom without fear, Phoebe Lapine offers a delicious solution with 130 completely fiber-forward (gluten-optional) recipes that are organized by your favorite type of carb—noodles, grains, loaves, spuds and more.

About the author:

Phoebe Lapine is a gluten-free chef, the voice behind the award-winning blog Feed Me Phoebe, and the author of four books. She lives in Brooklyn with her husband and daughter.

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Jeffrey Blount, Mr. Jimmy from Around the Way, Thurs., Jan. 25, 6 pm

Join us at the 20 S. Battery Hotel on Thurs., Jan. 25 at 6 pm for an evening with Jeffrey Blount, author of Mr. Jimmy From Around the Way (Beaufort Books, 350 pp., $25.95). Mr. Blount will be joined in conversation by Rebecca Dwight Bruff, author of Trouble the Water (Koehler, 348 pp, $19.95).

About the book:

After a highly publicized fall from grace, James attempts to flee from the chaos in his life. He ends up in a community he had never heard of before, one that has been neglected and ignored by everyone in rural Ham, Mississippi. A place of abject poverty, the neighborhood is commonly referred to as “Around the Way.”

Within a place forgotten by the rest of the world, politics can be a dangerous game. When a troubling discovery is made, the entire neighborhood is rocked to its core and James is forced to confront his own past in order to help the community have a future. He will have to find the strength to fight for the neighbors he once disregarded and avert a heart-breaking disaster.

A self-identified failure is forced to uncover the wisdom of his past in order to recognize that money can’t solve every problem. Full of never-ending twists and turns, no one can prepare themselves for the surprises in store. Mr. Jimmy From Around the Way is a story about failure, self-discovery, empowerment, and the possibility of redemption.

About the author:

Jeffrey is the award-winning author of three novels. He is also an Emmy award-winning television director and a 2016 inductee to the Virginia Communications Hall of Fame.

During a 34-year career at NBC News, Jeffrey directed a decade of Meet The Press, the Today Show, NBC Nightly News, and major special events. He is the first African- American to direct the Today Show. He is also an award winning documentary scriptwriter for films and interactives that are now on display in the Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture.

A Virginia native, he graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree inCommunications/Broadcast Journalism. He now lives in Washington, DC.

 



Kat Hastie, The Arena, Thurs., Dec. 14, 5:30 pm

Please join Blue Bicycle Books for a reception for artist Kat HastieThurs., Dec. 14, 5:30 pm as she signs copies of her monograph, The Arena (hb., 198 pp., $75). (Note date change.)

About the book:

In The Arena, Hastie tells her life story through her paintings. Hastie contemplates the transformative nature of a life in art as she takes the reader on a journey from her early works as a College of Charleston student, through her era of Italian inspiration in the 90s, to the paintings influenced by her domestic life in Charleston.

“Kat’s masterful hand and her deliberate twists away from the expected —  I find myself hanging onto every thread, every painted souvenir from her journey.” — Tim Hussey, local contemporary artist

About the author:

Kat Hastie has enjoyed a long painting career in her native Charleston, where she finds inspiration in the people she encounters and her childhood on a former plantation. Her recent work blends realism and abstraction, and employs symbols such as flowers, nature, and historical figures to evoke the rebellious force within. 



Michael Harriot, Black AF History, Mon. Sep. 25, 6:30 pm

Blue Bicycle Books welcomes Michael Harriot Mon., Sept. 25, 6:30 pm as he discusses Black AF History: The Un-Whitewashed Story of America (Morrow., 432 pp., $32.50).

About the book:

In Black AF History, Harriot removes the white sugar coating from the American story, placing Black people squarely at the center. Harriot speaks hilarious truth to oppressive power, subverting conventional historical narratives with little-known stories about the experiences of Black Americans, from the African Americans who arrived before 1619 to the un-conquerable bandit who inspired America’s first police force. With chapters on “The Church Fight That Started Slavery,” “Construction,” and “The Race War III: The Conspiracy Theory That Was True,” Black AF History tells the stories of influential Black Americans with the comedic energy of Richard Pryor and the critical eye of Howard Zinn, revealing the rebellions and revolts standard American “history” doesn’t want you to know about.

About the author:

Michael Harriot is a columnist at theGrio.com where he covers the intersection of race, politics, and culture. His work has appeared in the Washington Post, The Atlantic, NBC, BET, and on his mother’s refrigerator. He is a political commentator on MSNBC and CNN and has been honored by the National Association of Black Journalists for commentary, digital commentary, and TV news writing. His college course “Race: An Economic Construct” was adapted by university economics departments across the country as a model for teaching the combination of history, economics, politics, and class structures. 

 



Dan “Grossy” Pelosi, Let’s Eat, Wed. Oct. 4, 6 pm

Join cookbook author and food personality Dan “Grossy” Pelosi on Wed., Oct. 4 at 6 pm for an event celebrating the release of his first cookbook, Let’s Eat: 101 Recipes to Fill Your Heart and Home (Union Square, 288 pp.,  hb., $30).

This event is free and open to the public.

About the book:

In his debut cookbook, larger-than-life personality Dan Pelosi offers up a warm hug of home cooking, sharing both comfort food and connection with 101 of his nearest and dearest Italian American recipes. Some have been passed down through his family, and others have been cooked up from scratch—but all are made with love and accompanied by fun, meaningful stories to warm your heart while filling your belly.

About the author:

Dan Pelosi is the Italian-American meatball behind GrossyPelosi, the popular Instagram favorite for all things comfort and food. He hosts The Secret Sauce for Food52 and appears regularly on Good Morning America. He lives in Brooklyn, but you can find him online at @grossypelosi.

 



Michelle Wildgen, Wine People, Thurs. Oct. 19, 6 pm

Come have a glass of wine with Michelle WildgenThurs., Oct. 19, 6 pm as she talks about her newest novel, Wine People (Zibby Books, hb., $28). She’ll be joined in conversation by Charleston novelist Victoria Benton Frank (My Magnolia Summer).

Can’t make it? Order a copy here.

About the book:

What happens when two ambitious young women, opposite in every way, join forces in a competitive male-dominated industry?

Wren and Thessaly collide when they land coveted jobs at a glamorous New York City boutique wine importer. Hardworking, by-the-book Wren comes from a modest background and has everything to prove while Thessaly hails from a family of prestigious California growers—but she is plagued by self-doubt. Thrown together at work, where they’re expected to have exquisite palates, endless tolerance for alcohol and socializing, and the ability to sell, sell, sell, they regard each other with suspicion.

It’s only on an important European business trip—with everything on the line for both of them—that they unexpectedly forge an alliance that will change the course of their careers and personal lives.

With mouth-watering descriptions of food and wine, Wine People takes readers from France, Germany, and Italy to the Midwest and California Wine Country. An utterly entertaining page-turner that explores how close friends can both misjudge and uplift each other.

About the author:

Michelle Wildgen is the author of the novels You’re Not You, adapted into a feature film starring Hilary Swank and Emmy Rossum, But Not For Long, and Bread and Butter. She is editor of the anthology Food & Booze. Wildgen’s award-winning reviews, essays, and stories have appeared in publications including the New York Times Book Review, the “Modern Love” column, O, the Oprah Magazine, RealSimple.com, Salon.com, Best Food Writing, Best New American Voices, Triquarterly, Storyquarterly, and elsewhere. Formerly executive editor of Tin House, Wildgen is now a freelance editor and cofounder with novelist Susanna Daniel, of the Madison Writers’ Studio.

About Victoria Benton Frank:

Victoria Benton Frank was born in New York City, raised in Montclair, New Jersey, but considers herself to have dual residency in the Lowcountry. She is a graduate of the College of Charleston and the French Culinary Institute. Victoria worked in restaurants in New York before returning to Charleston, which she considers home, with her husband, two kids, and a giant mutt. When she isn’t writing, she is reading, cooking, or chasing her children.

 



Piccolo Fiction — Sat., June 3, 5 pm

Sat., June 3, 5 pm, Piccolo Fiction presented by Blue Bicycle Books.

Blue Bicycle Books, 420 King Street. Free and open to the public. 843-722-2666.

The festival’s longest-running event exclusively devoted to fiction, Piccolo Fiction presents local and South Carolina authors reading brief short stories. This year’s reading will be in the courtyard beside the bookstore, and, following tradition, each story will begin with the words “I ducked into the alley…”

Since 2000, Piccolo Fiction has featured dozens of S.C. writers, with stories broadcast by S.C. Public Radio and published in the Charleston City Paper.

Featured authors:

Brittany Butler is a former CIA targeting officer who recruited spies and dismantled terrorist networks abroad. Brittany has worked to promote the rights of disenfranchised Afghan women and girls and to resettle Afghan refugees. Her first novel is The Syndicate Spy, telling the story of how female intelligence officers use their intellect and skills to bring peace to this war-torn region.

Gervais Hagerty grew up in Charleston, graduated from Vanderbilt University and went on to report and produce news for local radio and TV. After earning her MBA at The Citadel, she taught communications to cadets. In 2020, she finally caved to a strong and bizarre urge to write books. HarperCollins published her first novel, In Polite Company in 2021.

Y-Danair Niehrah grew up writing fantasy and horror but shifted to historical fiction in high school, focusing on the stories of the Degar people—the indigenous tribes of Vietnam. He studied creative writing at the College of Charleston before pursuing an MFA at Queens University of Charlotte studying under writers like Fred Leebron, Naeem Murr, and Jonathan Dee.

Sara Peck is the author of three books of poetry. She grew up in Greenville, attended the College of Charleston, received her MFA from Columbia College Chicago, and teaches writing at the University School of the Lowcountry, where she was named SCISA High School Teacher of the Year for 2020-21. She was recently selected to develop a novel manuscript as part of the Tin House Winter Workshop in Portland.



Anjali Tamang and Sarah Symons, Standing in the Way: from Trafficking to Survival, Tues., Apr. 20, 5:30 pm

Join us Thurs., April 20, 5:30 pm, for a special reception and talk with activists Anjali Tamang and Sarah Symons, co-authors of Standing in the Way (pb., $15), hosted by Her Future Coalition, an international non-profit organization fighting human trafficking and other severe forms of gender violence.

Over the past 15 years, Her Future Coalition has provided shelter, education, employment, and healing to over 5,000 women and children in India, Nepal, Cambodia, and Thailand, enabling them to recover from trauma and build safe, independent and successful lives. Recently, Her Future was selected for a collaboration with Michelle Obama’s Girls Opportunity Alliance to highlight the importance of educating vulnerable girls.

To donate, click here.

About the book: Standing in the Way: From Trafficking to Survival, the compelling memoir from Anjali Tamang and Sarah Symons, shares Anjali’s incredible story of being trafficked at age twelve from her village in Nepal to the red light areas of Kolkata, India. Despite enduring the worst abuse imaginable, today Anjal works to combat trafficking and protect the next generation of girls in her community. The stories of the courageous people who freed her and aided in her recovery are woven into the book alongside her own personal insights.

Anjali and Sarah explore the root causes of human trafficking and the factors that made her vulnerable, describing her journey to India as a child, and the large complex network of traffickers and brothel owners involved in selling, transporting, and exploiting her. Anjali was eventually rescued, and the book not only portrays this from both the perspective of the rescuers and Anjali herself, but also describes the subsequent counseling and care she received.

Following her recovery, Anjali was able to return to Nepal and make up the many lost years of education. Now in college, she is planning to go back to her village and open a school and anti-trafficking charity to prevent other girls in her village from having to suffer as she did.

Anjali’s experiences have given her a unique perspective. While child sex trafficking is a difficult subject, the book is ultimately a story of survival and hope.

 



F.T. Lukens, Spell Bound, Tues., Apr. 4, 5:30 pm

Join us on Tues., Apr. 4, 5:30 pm to celebrate the release day of the newest YA novel by F.T. LukensSpell Bound! (Margaret K. McElderry, hb., 336 pp., $19.99) Lukens will be joined in conversation by Corrie Wang, Charleston-based YA author of City of Beasts and The Takedown.

About Spell Bound:

Edison Rooker isn’t sure what to expect when he enters the office of Antonia Hex, the powerful sorceress who runs a call center for magical emergencies. He doesn’t have much experience with hexes or curses. Heck, he doesn’t even have magic. But he does have a plan—to regain the access to the magical world he lost when his grandmother passed.

Antonia is…intimidating, but she gives him a job and a new name—Rook—both of which he’s happy to accept. Now all Rook has to do is keep his Spell Binder, an illegal magical detection device, hidden from the Magical Consortium. And contend with Sun, the grumpy and annoyingly cute apprentice to Antonia’s rival colleague, Fable. But dealing with competition isn’t so bad; as Sun seems to pop up more and more, Rook minds less and less.

But when the Consortium gets wind of Rook’s Spell Binder, they come for Antonia. All alone, Rook runs to the only other magical person he knows: Sun. Except Fable has also been attacked, and now Rook and Sun have no choice but to work together to get their mentors back…or face losing their magic forever.

About the author:

F.T. Lukens is a New York Times bestselling author of YA speculative fiction including the novels So This Is Ever After, In Deeper Waters, and the forthcoming Spell Bound as well as other science-fiction and fantasy works. Their contemporary fantasy novel The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic was a 2017 Cybils Award finalist in YA Speculative Fiction, the Foreword INDIES Book of the Year Gold Winner for YA fiction and won the Bisexual Book Award for Speculative Fiction. F.T. resides in North Carolina with their spouse, three kids, three dogs, and three cats.