Brooke Schutte’s works currently up at Gold City Gallery in El Dorado, Kansas, are a mix of self-reflective and darkly whimsical drawings and paintings exploring addiction and mental health. The solo exhibition, on view through July 31, will be the gallery's final show before it closes. Schutte notes in her artist’s statement that she hopes... Continue Reading →
Author Chris M. Arnone notes in his introduction that “My Name Was Baby: An Intersex Memoir” is “about healing …(and) challenging … the ideas of ‘normal’ and ‘happy.’” He accomplishes this in a memoir that explores the in-between. His intersex variations made Arnone feel neither here nor there. Those feelings extend to his experience as an... Continue Reading →
I read six books during June. But honestly, I read all six of them in the 14 days of the month in a hurried rush to the finish line. And Yael Van Der Wouden's The Safekeep was my favorite (honorable mention to Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix and Hot Girls with Balls by Benedict Nguyen).
In a solo show at Reuben Saunders Gallery, Needham utilizes vibrant hues to acknowledge the quiet comfort and abundance of nature. Recently, a friend mentioned that a tree’s roots go as deep into the earth as the tree itself is tall. I think about that bit of trivia every single day — about the abundance of nature,... Continue Reading →
The slim novella Vampires at Sea sounds intriguing enough: two vampires on a pleasure cruise through the Black Sea in a not so distant future. What a perfect smorgasbord. What a romp through potentially bloodied waters. Only Rebekah and Hugh are energy vampires. Yeah, like Collin from What We Do in the Shadows.
Bill Andrews spent over three decades working in hospitals throughout the south and central regions of the state. But throughout his life, his passion has been woodworking. “I think of the two things — pharmacy and woodworking — as two separate parts of my life,” said Andrews, who is 82. “Hospital pharmacy was pretty stressful,... Continue Reading →
Disco. Witches. Fire Island. Those four words say it all, and Blair Fell's novel delivers on each and every one of them. I've been telling friends (and anyone who will listen) that Fell's novel, The Disco Witches of Fire Island, is the "more lighthearted" version of Rebecca Makkai's The Great Believers (another novel that I will talk to... Continue Reading →
Kansas author Sarah Henning has penned a dozen books. Most are geared towards young adult readers, but her novels are also popular with adults who enjoy the YA genre. Henning’s latest fantasy novel “The Lies We Conjure” is a 2025 Kansas Notable Book, one of 15 titles recognized by the State Library of Kansas. “It... Continue Reading →
As anti-LGBT rhetoric intensifies, the queer community needs stories of political engagement — and triumph — more than ever. C.J. Janovy’s 2018 book “No Place Like Home: Lessons in Activism from LGBT Kansas” is full of such accounts. A newly released version is arriving at just the right time. The University Press of Kansas reached... Continue Reading →
Each creative family is creative in its own way, and it’s that uniqueness of artistic expression that Derby Arts Council offers for consideration in their “Art in the Family” exhibition on display through June 24 at the Derby Public Library. The library sits just off the bustle of Rock Road, yet the building is quiet,... Continue Reading →
shelly. walston. writes. 