We always love to celebrate debut novelists, and we especially love to celebrate debut novelists who are local(ish) and who have written brilliant books. So we’re thrilled to welcome Ciera Horton McElroy to Skylark, in person, on Thursday, April 6 at 6:30p.m. Ciera’s debut novel, Atomic Family, is a stunning environmental novel set during the Cold War, full of beauty and pain and humor and horror. With gorgeous lyricism and authority, it tells the story of one life-shattering day in November, 1961.

Dean Porter, a scientist at the local nuclear bomb plant, is reading a report of impending disaster. His wife, Nellie, is deciding what to wear to a nuclear protest. Their son, Wilson, is hiding in the backyard fallout shelter, waiting for the Russians to invade. When tragedy strikes, the Porter family must learn to confront their fears--of the world and of each other. In twenty-four hours, nothing will be the same.

Ciera Horton McElroy (b. 1995) was raised in Orlando, Florida. She holds a BA from Wheaton College and an MFA from the University of Central Florida. Her work has appeared in AGNI, Bridge Eight, Iron Horse Literary Review, the Crab Orchard Review, and Saw Palm, among others. She currently lives in St. Louis with her husband and son.