Ron Rash has long been a revered presence in the landscape of American letters. A virtuosic novelist, poet, and story writer, he evokes the beauty and brutality of the land, the relentless tension between past and present, and the unquenchable human desire to be a little bit better than circumstances would seem to allow (to paraphrase Faulkner). In these ten stories, Rash spins a haunting allegory of the times we live in—rampant capitalism, the severing of ties to the natural world in the relentless hunt for profit, the destruction of body and soul with pills meant to mute our pain—and yet within this world he illuminates acts of extraordinary decency and heroism. Two of the stories have already been singled out for accolades: “Baptism” was chosen by Roxane Gay for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories 2018, and “Neighbors” was selected by Jonathan Lethem for The Best American Mystery Stories 2019. In revisiting Serena Pemberton, Rash updates his bestselling parable of greed run amok as his deliciously vindictive heroine returns to the North Carolina wilderness she left scarred and desecrated to make one final effort to kill the child that threatens all she has accomplished. Here Ron Rash has created another mesmerizing look at the imperfect world around us, and will discuss it with Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Suzanne Van Atten.

Ron Rash is the author of the 2009 PEN/Faulkner finalist and New York Times bestseller Serenaand Above the Waterfall, in addition to four prizewinning novels, including The Cove, One Foot in Eden, Saints at the River,and The World Made Straight; four collections of poems; and six collections of stories, among them Burning Bright, which won the 2010 Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award, and Chemistry and Other Stories, which was a finalist for the 2007 PEN/Faulkner Award. Twice the recipient of the O. Henry Prize, he teaches at Western Carolina University.

Suzanne Van Atten is book critic and contributing editor for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. She is the author of "Moon Puerto Rico" travel guide, now in its 5th edition, and a Los Angeles-based freelance writer specializing in books, travel, and the arts.

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In the Valley with Ron Rash Sponsored by the Atlanta Writers Club