Our guest this week, Jayne Moore Waldrop traded legal briefs of a law practice for her writing journals in an MFA program. Her first book, Drowned Town, is a novel in linked stories about the families who lost their homes in the 1960s when President Kennedy announced the creation of Land Between the Lakes, a national recreation area that resulted from damning several rivers and taking land from residents through eminent domain. Jayne explores what the meaning of home becomes when one’s home is now underwater. Her book was selected as one of the best southern books of 2021 by the Southern Review of Books.

Jayne has changed gears once again, this time to tell a picture book story for children titled A Journey in Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson about one of the great artists of the Harlem Renaissance, native Kentuckian Ellis Wilson, who won two Guggenheim Fellowships but has been virtually unknown in his home state. Jayne teamed up with acclaimed Nashville artist Michael McBride to create a book that helps give Wilson his due but also inspire children to follow their dreams.

And stay tuned to our social media accounts because we will be giving away one hardback copy of Jayne’s novel Drowned Town for one lucky winner.

You can find Jayne on her website https://www.jaynemoorewaldrop.com and social media on Instagram @jaynemoorewaldrop and FB Jayne Moore Waldrop, Author.

For show notes for any episode, go to our website at www.perksofbeingabooklover.com.  We are also on Instagram @perksofbeingabookloverpod and on FB Perks of Being a Book Lover.

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

1- Drowned Town by Jayne Moore Waldrop

2- A Journey in Color: The Art of Ellis Wilson by Jayne Moore Waldrop and illustrated by Michael McBride

3- The Rabbit Hutch by Tess Gunty

4- Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout

5- These Silent Woods by Kimi Cunningham Grant

6- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

7- David Copperfield by Charles Dickens

8- Lark Ascending by Silas House

9- Ben Yokoyama and the Cookie of Doom by Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr

10- Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak

Films mentioned--

Nonprofit mentioned: