Founders of Merge Records in Durham, Mac McCaughan and Laura Ballance, will discuss and sign copies of the new book they wrote with John Cook, Our Noise: The Story of Merge Records, the Indie Label that Got Big and Stayed Small.  “One of the most respected imprints in an often disreputable industry, Merge has defied the odds by releasing some of the finest rock and pop music of the last 15 years,” writes the Chicago Tribune.  Mac and Laura are two of the members of the pop-punk band Superchunk.  Mac and Laura will play some of their favorite Merge songs and show some slides—and we’ll offer beer and wine.  (We’ll also play the 20th anniversary Merge Records sampler CD.) Check out the site, www.ournoisebook.com.

Holly Goddard Jones will read from and sign copies of her new short story collection, Girl Trouble. These geographically linked stories create a composite image of life in Roma, Kentucky-haunting in its blankness-and address issues of compassion, caretaking, identity and growth. "Compelling and full of heartache, these stories are so beautifully written you won't want them to end," writes Kim Edwards, author of The Memory Keeper's Daughter.

North Carolina author Jill McCorkle will read from and sign copies of her new short story collection, Going Away Shoes. "These stories provide what brilliant fiction always provides—insight, felt life, voices of others, fascination—but more than anything else, they give pleasure," writes author Richard Bausch. Award-winning McCorkle is the author of eight previous books—three story collections and five novels—five of which have been selected as New York Times Notable Books. She teaches writing at NCSU.

Michael Rosen will discuss and sign copies of his new book, What Else But Home: Seven Boys and an American Journey Between the Projects and the Penthouse. This is an unflinching and compelling first-hand account of a family's improvised journey across the divide of race, class, and economic opportunity in the Lower East Side of New York. "Michael Rosen takes readers on a death-defying journey—gritty, surprising, funny and fiercely honest. What was defied? The death of hope. What we're now graced with? An inspiring book about what one family can accomplish," writes Ron Suskind, author of A Hope in the Unseen.

Deborah Willis will discuss, show work from, and sign copies of her new book, Posing Beauty: African American Images from the 1890s to the Present, the first photographic history of black beauty.  It tells a story overlooked by most of America, and promises to transform the way we think about the history of African-American visual culture.  From posed studio portraits to dandies on parade to elegant debutantes, Willis has constructed a bold narrative of the ever-changing idea of beauty, both female and male, and shows how history books, newspapers, and mainstream magazines deliberately excluded black models until the late 1960s.  Willis is the author of Reflections in Black and Obama: The Historic Campaign in Photographs.

Duke professor emeritus Orrin Pilkey will discuss and sign copies of his latest book, The Rising Sea, which he co-authored with Rob Young.  “Sea level rise is a lurking dragon.  Experts chart its pulse nervously, but speak quietly.  Pilkey and Young pierce this reticence, telling a story that the public must understand—or the dragon may burst out of humanity’s control,” writes James E. Hansen, director, NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies.

Sue Monk Kidd and her daughter Ann Kidd Taylor will discuss and sign copies of their memoir told in two voices, Traveling with Pomegranates. France and Greece provide the rich setting for this intersecting spiritual autobiography, in which both mother and daughter make choices and decisions as they enter new phases of their lives. Sue Monk Kidd is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Mermaid Chair and The Secret Life of Bees, which was adapted into an award-winning major motion picture. This event is co-sponsored with the Durham County Library.

We’re starting a new monthly discussion series focused on mysteries, and the series will begin with The Shape of Water by Andrea Camilleri.  Wildly popular in Europe, Camilleri’s books feature Salvo Montalbano, police inspector in the small Sicilian town of Vigata.  In this title, Montalbano has a potentially explosive case on his plate: a local politician has been found dead in his car, apparently the victim of a heart attack.  No melancholic brooder, Montalbano puts a comic face on the noir world, sorting through multiple layers of corruption Sicilian style, while still finding time to enjoy a good lunch.  The series will be facilitated by Judy Dearlove, who has called Durham home for over three decades.  A passionate reader, she has also taught literature at several local colleges, including Duke, Meredith, and Elon.  Currently, she is engaged in the mysterious process of writing a novel.