Saturday, Apr. 20 | 4pm | Chelsea First United Methodist Church | 128 Park St.
Wade Rouse, internationally bestselling author of fiction and memoir, writes under both his given name, and under Viola Shipman, a pen name inspired by his grandmother and meant to honor poor Ozarks seamstress whose sacrifices changed his family’s life and inspire his fiction. Rouse’s books have been NBC’s Today Show Must-Reads, Michigan Notable Books of the Year, featured in the Washington Post and USA Today, chosen three times as Indie Next Picks by the nation’s independent booksellers. And selected as part of the American Library Association’s inaugural “Rainbow List.”
2023 Michigan Notable Book Award winner Magic Season is a memoir of a gay son and a conservative father who bond over their shared love of baseball and the St. Louis Cardinals. Kirkus lauds this book as a “poignant memoir of pain and hope.”
Viola Shipman’s delightful 2023 novels, Famous in a Small Town and The Wishing Bridge capture small Michigan Towns with charm and nostalgia. Famous in a Small Town is “a delightful summer read for those wanting a little magic in their lives” while The Wishing Bridge is a winter read “full of nostalgia for the charms of a simple, small-town life full of friends and family” (Booklist).
