Kelly Link will read in Atlanta this month, along with Sarah Gorham. I am not familiar with Gorham’s work, but Link is one of my favorite contemporary writers. Her collection of stories Magic for Beginners is one of the most interesting, startling, colorful, and memorable books I’ve read. My three favorite stories from this collection are “The Hotlak,” “Stone Animals,” and “Magic for Beginners.” Zombies, rabbits, magic, and fabulation aside, Link’s work is full of, simply, good stories. I was so excited about her work that I’m sure I looked like a mute idiot back at AWP in Atlanta last February when I all of the sudden realized I was standing at the booth for the press she co-founded, Small Beer Press, and of course she was standing right there too.

The reading is Thursday February 21 at 7:30, in the Troy Moore Library at Georgia State University; it is open to the public. Earlier that day the New South’s Writing Workshop will host the third annual Conference on Literary Publishing, which is sponsored in part by Five Points and Poets & Writers. However, I believe the Conference may only be open to students and faculty at GSU.