Moonbath is a beautifully written epic saga that follows the tumultuous and often heartbreaking lives of four generations of rural Haitian women over the course of the 20th century. Told by Haitian-born award-winning author Yanick Lahens (and translated from French by Emily Gogolok), the 2014 release of Moonbath earned Lahens the prestigious Prix Femina award and was honored with a 2015 French Voices Award for its translation.
In Moonbath, Lahens deftly applies poetic language to a searing narrative that follows the lives of women from two families: the Lefleurs and the Mésidors. By shifting from the most intimate traumas of each passing generation of women to the larger and more dramatic backdrop of Haitian politics, voodoo and economic turmoil, Moonbath elegantly pits classes, genders, religions and races against the raw power of family memories.
Moonbath is Lahens third novel. She has also published a short-story collection and a group of critical essays. After graduating from the Sorbonne in France, the writer returned to her native homeland to teach literature at the University of Haiti and worked for the Ministry of Culture. As a strong advocate for literacy in Haiti, Lahens has helped open four libraries in the country. She will speak at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 23 at Boswell Book Co.
Book Happenings:
Riverwest is one of a handful of Milwaukee’s truly historic neighborhoods—as opposed to the make-believe ones dreamed up by a local historian in the ’80s—and its particular character is integral to the new story collection by Scott Christopher Beebe. In The Riverwest Files, the author rues the changes that have overtaken the East Side, which he gladly traded for the bohemian environs of his book’s titular district. The memoir-like intro with a Ginsberg-like title (“Friends I’ve Found on These Holy Streets”) is crammed with dates and place names—Nessun Dorma, Fuel Café, Foundation, Mad Planet. Beebe finds Riverwest to be a place where diversity is more than a buzzword.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Beebe will read, sell and sign copies at Voyageur Bookshop, 6-7 p.m. Sept. 22; Live Gallery Hair Design, 6-7 p.m., Sept. 25; 6-7:30 p.m., Art Bar Riverwest, 6-7 p.m. Oct. 4; Fischberger’s Variety, 6:30-7:30 p.m., Oct. 9; and Like Minds Brewing, 7-8 p.m., Oct. 11.
John Nichols
7 p.m., Sept. 27
Boswell Book Co.
2559 N. Downer Ave.
John Nichols’ challenge in writing Horsemen of the Trumpocaylpse: A Field Guide to the Most Dangerous People in America is the disruptive speed of the chaos that spreads around the 45th president. Barely had the book been shipped than Donald Trump’s chief strategist and link to billionaire donors, Steve Bannon, got the sack. Writing with greater adherence to facts than most pundits on the opposite side, the nationally known Madison-based journalist maps out a president bereft of ideas and indebted to far-right money interests and their foot soldiers in the Tea Party and beyond. Maybe a sequel is already in the works?
