Sometimes things just fall in your lap. Exhibit A: an unexpected Facebook message from a brilliant, best-selling and award-winning author who just happens to be coming to town this weekend, and would we have any interest in doing an event? Like, IN TWO DAYS’ TIME.
The answer, of course, is yes.
So it is, with the shortest of notice but greatest of fanfare, that we’re thrilled to announce that Kerri Arsenault will be appearing in person at Skylark on Friday evening to discuss her stunning book, Mill Town: Reckoning With What Remains..
Mill Town: Reckoning With What Remains is a stunning work of narrative nonfiction, investigative memoir, and cultural criticism that illuminates the rise and collapse of the working-class, the hazards of loving and leaving home, and the ambiguous nature of toxics and disease with the central question; Who or what are we willing to sacrifice for our own survival?
Kerri Arsenault grew up in the small, rural town of Mexico, Maine, where for over 100 years the community orbited around a paper mill that provided jobs for nearly everyone in town, including three generations of her family. Kerri had a happy childhood, but years after she moved away, she realized the price she paid for that childhood. The price everyone paid. The mill, while providing the social and economic cohesion for the community, also contributed to its demise.
The book has won an absolute TON of awards and acclaim, and has been chosen as this year’s One Read for the University of Missouri’s Honor’s College. It’s a brilliant read and we can’t wait to hear Kerri discuss it. It’s going to be a memorable evening.
KERRI ARSENAULT is the Book Review Editor at Orion magazine, and Contributing Editor at Lithub. Arsenault received her MFA in Creative Writing from The New School and studied in Malmö University’s Communication for Development master’s programme. Her writing has appeared in Freeman’s, Lithub, Oprah.com, and The Minneapolis Star Tribune, among other publications. She lives in New England. Mill Town is her first book.
