Jody Hobbs Hesler (Fiction, June 2017) will be in conversation with Jeffrey Dale Lofton about her novel, Without You Here. This event is free with first come, first serve seating.

Without You Here is about generational trauma, mental illness, sloppy family dynamics, dangerous marriages, and the beautiful, redemptive nature of affection and love. In the end Noreen is left to ask: Will her life forever be defined by her aunt’s zest for life or her untimely death? And can she stop history from repeating itself?

Jody Hobbs Hesler lives, writes, and teaches in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. She is the author of the story collection What Makes You Think You’re Supposed to Feel Better from Cornerstone Press, and her words also appear in Necessary Fiction, Gargoyle, Valparaiso Fiction Review, Atticus Review, Writer’s Digest, Electric Literature, CRAFT, Arts & Letters, and many other journals. She teaches at WriterHouse in Char-lottesville, Virginia; writes and copy edits for Virginia Wine & Country Life and Charlottesville Family Magazine; and serves as assistant fiction editor for the Los Angeles Review.