Book reviewing became a cornerstone of my freelance work when I began writing for BookPage in 2008. In addition to frequent review work, I also interview authors and produce feature packages about books and other aspects of storytelling.
Read more of my book reviews and author interviews here.
“Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss”
Alabama Writers Forum, March 5, 2020
“I was just calling to tell you I’m going to be fine. I love you, baby.”
The rest of that conversation is fuzzy now. I believe my father and I spent a half hour or so talking about football—the college season would kick off a week later—and rock music, both among our favorite topics since I was a teenager. I sat on my balcony during that phone call, enjoying a pleasant, late-summer Sunday in Birmingham while my father was confined to an intensive care unit in Florida. I don’t think we discussed much of significance, beyond briefly touching on the unexpected surgery he would undergo the next day.
But I know for certain he ended that call, as he always did, by reminding me of his love.
It was the last time I would hear his voice.
“Joy Evangelist”
Portico Mountain Brook, Winter 2019
She’s best known as Mrs. C.S. Lewis, but novelist Patti Callahan Henry says that’s the least interesting thing about Joy Davidman. Callahan introduces the world to Joy in her new novel, “Becoming Mrs. Lewis.”
Review: “All You Can Ever Know” by Nicole Chung
BookPage, October 2018
“As she wrestles with her identity as an adopted child and as the sole person of color in most of her childhood circles, Chung confronts universal questions: Who am I? How does that shape how I interact with the world? Chung’s origin story is messier than she’d hoped, but All You Can Ever Know is a tale told with empathy and grace.”
Q&A with Chung, BookPage, October 2018
BookPage, October 2018
In her memoir, All You Can Ever Know, Nicole Chung, who was adopted as a baby by a couple in Oregon, explores how the truths that were revealed upon finding her birth parents changed her life. Here Chung discusses growing up Asian-American in a white family, her writing and editing career and more.
“Reflections on ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’: The book that changed everything”
Birmingham magazine, July 2015
“It’s easy to save yourself from teasing by mocking someone lower on the totem pole. I can’t say I’m innocent in that regard. But TKAM pulls those issues into focus through the relationships of lower-class townspeople with their wealthier counterparts, the divide between black and white, and the isolation and misunderstanding of Boo Radley.”
“Is storytelling inherently Southern? Experts weigh in”
AL.com, July 5, 2015
“The mere mention of ‘the South’ often conjures images of sweet tea, front porch swings
“But is storytelling inherently Southern?”