Blue Bicycle Books

In town for SIBA, Los Angeles author Jennifer Niven will stop by Blue Bicycle on Sat., Sept. 17, 5-7 pm to sign her new book, Velva Jean Learns to Fly (Penguin, pb. 432 pp. $15), the second installment in her acclaimed Velva Jean series.  The first book, Velva Jean Learns to Drive, published in 2009, received rave reviews and was quickly optioned by Warner Bros. for a television series that later won an Emmy.

 In the new book,Velva Jean Hart hits the road to pursue her dream of singing at the Grand Ole Opry. She leaves behind rural Appalachia, fuelled by the memory of her late Mama telling her to “live out there.” But after a string of auditions, she begins to lose hope- until her brother pays her a surprise visit and treats her to a flying lesson that ignites a brand-new dream: to become a female pilot. Funny, poignant, and utterly unforgettable, Velva Jean Learns to Fly will have fans cheering all over again.

Jennifer Niven is the daughter of award winning author, Penelope Niven, and the author of four titles. Her first book, The Ice Master, has been translated into 10 languages and received numerous awards, including Italy’s esteemed Gambrinus Giuseppe Mazzotti Prize for 2002. She has appeared in in Newsweek, Entertainment Weekly, Talk, Glamour, The New Yorker, Outside, The New York Times Book Review, The London Daily Mail, The London Times, and Writer’s Digest, to name a few.

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Renowned silhouette artist Clay Rice is returning to Blue Bike to cut personal silhouettes and sign copies of his book The Lonely Shadow (Joggling Board, hb., $19.95) on Wed., Sept. 5, 3 – 6 pm.

Taught by his grandfather Carew, Clay Rice is a 21st century folk artist and a Lowcountry treasure. Watching him cut a child’s silhouette in five minutes has been called performance art in itself. You’ll be amazed when he captures a recognizable profile of your squirming two-year-old in less time than it takes to get her shoes on.

His national touring schedule keeps him on the road often, cutting more than 10,000 children’s silhouettes a year, so events back home in Charleston are rare!

Personal silhouettes start at $40 for two copies. We expect slots to fill up quickly; to book an appointment, please call us at 843.722.2666.

Pictures from past years

Blue Bicycle will welcome Wall Street Journal reporter Cameron McWhirter Wed., Sept. 28, 4-6 pm signing his new book  Red Summer: The Summer of 1919 and the Awakening of Black America  (Henry Holt, 2011, hb. 352 pp. $32.50).

McWhirter offers the first narrative written history of the deadly summer of 1919, when a wave of antiblack riots swept the country.  After World War I, black Americans fervently hoped for a new epoch of peace, prosperity, and equality, believing that their participation in the fight to make the world safe for democracy finally earned them equal rights. However, the racial unrest that rolled across the United States continued to deny them the equality they had been promised at the end of the Civil War. With a knack for story-telling and scrupulous historical research, McWhirter tells of the riots, lynchings, and public slaughters that ensued from April to November of 1919, paving the way for the American Civil Rights Movement.

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