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Celebrated author Barbara Kingsolver, who has written numerous bestselling novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Demon Copperhead, will discuss her latest book, Partita, on Sunday, Oct. 11, at Vanderbilt University.
Kingsolver will be in conversation with author Ann Patchett beginning at 6:30 p.m. in Langford Auditorium, 2209 Garland Ave. The evening’s program also will include a performance by pianist Amy Dorfman. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m.
The event, which is hosted by the Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries and Dialogue Vanderbilt in collaboration with Parnassus Books, is one of a series of author talks leading up to the annual Southern Festival of Books presented by Vanderbilt University in partnership with Humanities Tennessee. This year’s festival will take place in downtown Nashville on Oct. 17–18.
Tickets for the talk are $35.25 each (plus Eventbrite fees) and include one general admission seat and a copy of Partita, to be published by HarperCollins on Oct. 6. All books will be unsigned. There will not be a signing line at this event.
About the book
Livia Cable has made her peace with her marriage and modest livelihood in the farm country where she grew up, until a shocking phone call from an old lover shakes her to the core. Decades earlier, this man knew her as Livia Bohusz, a music conservatory student estranged from her home and family, uncertain of anything except her passion for music and promise as an extraordinary pianist. His request, now, to see her again stirs up ghosts she’s kept at bay for a lifetime.
Shifting between past and present, Livia’s decision to meet or reject the reunion means confronting step by step, in memories framed as musical dances, the experiences of childhood loss, abandonment, self-immolating passion, and perilous attachment to a man who broke her belief in love and ruptured the course of her life.
With razor-sharp acuity and deep affection, Kingsolver’s unforgettable new novel reflects on class barriers, the risks of ambition, and the timeless power of art and how it can transform a life.
About the author
Barbara Kingsolver is the author of 10 bestselling works of fiction, including the novels Unsheltered, The Bean Trees, and The Poisonwood Bible, as well as books of poetry, essays, creative nonfiction, and Coyote’s Wild Home, a children’s book co-authored with Lily Kingsolver. She also collaborated with family members on the influential Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Kingsolver’s work has been translated into more than 30 languages and has earned a devoted readership at home and abroad. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and has received numerous awards and honors, including the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel Demon Copperhead, the National Humanities Medal, and most recently the National Book Foundation’s Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. She lives with her husband on a farm in southern Appalachia.
About the moderator
Ann Patchett is the author of novels—most recently the No. 1 New York Times bestselling Whistler—as well as works of nonfiction and children’s books. Her novel The Dutch House was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. She has been the recipient of numerous honors, including the PEN/Faulkner Award, the National Humanities Medal, the 2026 Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, the 2026 PEN/Audible Literary Service Award in recognition of her humanistic voice as a novelist and her dedication to independent bookselling, and most recently the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Foundation’s Richard C. Holbrooke Distinguished Achievement Award for “a writer whose body of work reflects the prize’s mission of fostering peace, social justice and global understanding.” Patchett is also the owner of Parnassus Books in Nashville and a prominent spokesperson for independent booksellers.
About the performer
A professor of piano at Vanderbilt University Blair School of Music, Amy Dorfman has enjoyed a wide variety of musical collaborations throughout her career. She is a founding member of the Blakemore Trio, which made its New York debut at Merkin Hall and has performed throughout the country. The trio’s most recent album, The Blakemore Trio Plays Music of Adam Schoenberg, was released on Blue Griffin Records in 2022. Dorfman also has accompanied American bass virtuoso Edgar Meyer for many years, performing with him in Alice Tully Hall in New York and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, as well as on NPR’s St. Paul Sunday Morning.