Nell Zink’s “Avalon”

Nell Zink joins Eric Newman and Kate Wolf to talk about her latest novel, “Avalon.”

By LARB Radio HourJune 17, 2022

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Author Nell Zink joins Eric Newman and Kate Wolf to talk about her latest novel, Avalon. A coming of age novel centered on Bran, a young woman abandoned by her parents, left to fend for herself on a Southern California farm where she works propagating exotic plants amid the looming presence of a biker gang. When Bran meets Peter, a college student thick on theory and philosophy, she glimpses the possibility of a new world of ideas. The two share a sweet yet tortured romance that promises an escape for Bran as a young writer coming into her identity.

Also, Shelly Oria, editor of the anthology, I Know What’s Best for You: Stories on Reproductive Freedom, returns to recommend four books (the first three by contributors to the anthology): Notes on Your Sudden Disappearance by Alison Espach; The Stars are not yet Bells by Hannah Lilith Assadi; American Estrangement, a short story collection, by Said Sayrafiezadeh; and A Lie that Someone Told You about Yourself  by Peter Ho Davies.