For the next few weeks, Storybound will honor 2021 National Book Awards finalists who have appeared on this show by re-airing their episodes. This week, Lauren Groff reads her short story "Flower Hunters" from her short story collection Florida, with sound design and music composition from Naomi LaViolette.

Lauren Groff is the author of six books of fiction, the most recent the novel “Matrix” (September 2021). Her work has won The Story Prize, the ABA Indies’ Choice Award, and France’s Grand Prix de l’Héroïne, was twice a finalist for the National Book Award for Fiction and the Kirkus Prize, and was shortlisted for the National Book Critics Circle Prize, the Southern Book Prize, and the Los Angeles Times Prize, and is a finalist for a 2021 National Book Award. She has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation and the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, and was named one of Granta’s Best of Young American Novelists. Her work has been translated into over thirty languages. She lives in Gainesville, Florida.

Naomi LaViolette’s original music has been reviewed by publications like Oregon Music News, The Oregonian, The Portland Tribune, Willamette Week, The Inessa Blog, KATU’s AM Northwest, KINK.fm, and KMHD.fm. Her latest single was released in 2021.

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