The Davenport Public Library presents Kate O'Shaughnessy -- July 26.
Kids All Iowa Reads Virtual Visit w/ Kate O'Shaughnessy: Tuesday, July 26, 4:30 p.m.
All Iowa Reads Virtual Visit w/ Rachel Mans McKenny: Wednesday, July 27, 7 p.m.
Presented by the Davenport Public Library
On July 26 and 27, the Davenport Public Library will host a pair of virtual author visits with rising literary stars whose works have been selected as part of the State Library of Iowa's All Iowa Reads program, with Kate O'Shaughnessy discussing her writing process and critically acclaimed The Lonely Heart of Maybelle Lane on Tuesday, and Rachel Mans McKenny, on Wednesday, providing a deep dive into her career and chosen title The Butterfly Effect.
O'Shaughnessy graduated from Yale University in 2010 with a degree in psychology, as well as a deep interest in the politics, psychology, and history of food. After graduation, she attended culinary school in New York City, and parlayed that into a job as a chef de partie at a Michelin-starred restaurant. She was consequently offered a two-year fellowship at the Yale Sustainable Food Program, where O'Shaughnessy created food-based academic programming and helped till the soil of the one-acre campus farm. After her fellowship ended in 2014, O'Shaughnessy married her college sweetheart, embarked on a backpacking trip around the world with him, and began writing in earnest. Released in 2020, The Lonely Heart of Maybelle Lane tells of an 11-year-old girl who takes a journey of her own -- a cross-country trek to meet the father she never knew -- and the work amassed numerous critical raves, with Publishers Weekly writing, "Lyrical and full of heart, this road trip story gets to the core of what it means to create family, to be brave, and to accept the flaws of being human."
Mans McKenny is a writer and humorist from the Midwest who has been recently published in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, Elle Magazine, Electric Lit, The Rumpus, and the New York Times, and she also co-hosts the literary matchmaking podcast Blind Date with a Book. Released in 2020, The Butterfly Effect is Mans McKenny's first novel, and as it weaves its story about a solitary entomologist who awkwardly returns to her Midwestern family, the author delivers unconventional tale of self-discovery, navigating relationships, and how sometimes it takes stepping outside of our comfort zone to find what we need the most. New York Times bestselling author J. Ryan Stradal called The Butterfly Effect a "warm, winning debut from a talented new Midwestern voice," while award-winning author Rachel Yoder raved, "Come for the butterflies, and stay for Mans McKenny’s acerbic authorial eye which examines the complexities of the Midwest and its quiet dramas.”
The Kids All Iowa Reads Virtual Visit with Kate O'Shaughnessy and a moderator will take place at 4:30 p.m. on July 26, while the All Iowa Reads Virtual Visit with Rachel Mans McKenny and the Norwalk Easter Public Library' adult-services librarian Kayla Becker will begin at 7 p.m. on July 27. Participation in both events is free, and more information is available by calling (563)326-7832 and visiting DavenportLibrary.com.
