Kim Coleman Foote: Reading from Debut Novel Coleman Hill, and in Conversation with Joy Baglio

Novelist Kim Coleman Foote will read from her debut novel Coleman Hill, inspired by her family’s experience of the Great Migration from Alabama and Florida to Vauxhall, New Jersey, c. 1916–80s. Following the reading, PVWW Founder Joy Baglio will join her in conversation about the book, her process, and what the publishing journey has been like. There will be lots of time for Q&A as well. Virtual Zoom Event. 

Zoom link is listed below, under "Where" and will be emailed to all who RSVP a week before the event! We strongly advise that you mark your calendars now!

KIM COLEMAN FOOTE is author of the forthcoming book, Coleman Hill (SJP Lit/Zando), which fictionalizes her family’s experience of the Great Migration from Alabama and Florida to Vauxhall, New Jersey, c. 1916–80s. An award-winning writer of fiction and memoir, Kim’s work has appeared most recently in The Best American Short Stories 2022, Iron Horse Literary Review, Ecotone, and The Rumpus. Major honors include writing fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, Phillips Exeter Academy, Center for Fiction, Yaddo, MacDowell, and Hedgebrook. Her work focuses on marginalized histories, relationships between Africa and its diaspora, and gender and class. Currently in progress is a novel about Ghana and the trans-Atlantic slave trade, which weaves the stories of three young women in the eighteenth century and present day. Other honors include writing residencies from the Anderson Center, Hambidge, and Vermont Studio Center, a Kimbilio Fiction Fellowship, and an Illinois Arts Council Fellowship for creative nonfiction. Kim also received a Fulbright Fellowship to conduct research about the slave trade in Ghana, where she inadvertently wrote a memoir about her experiences. An avid music lover and dancer, Kim created an online radio show dedicated to Congolese and African pop music. She can be found blogging (and singing) there as her alter ego, kimi kimiana. Kim received an MFA in creative writing from Chicago State University and a BA in sociology & anthropology, concentration in Black studies, from Swarthmore College. Find her online at https://www.kimfoote.com/

JOY BAGLIO is a Northampton MA-based fiction writer and the founder / director of the literary arts organization Pioneer Valley Writers' Workshop, where she frequently teaches and hosts readings and events. Her short stories have appeared widely, in journals such as The Missouri Review, American Short Fiction, Conjunctions, Tin House, The Iowa Review, Gulf Coast, TriQuarterly, New Ohio Review, Fairy Tale Review, and elsewhere. Recent honors include fellowships, scholarships, and grants from Yaddo, The Elizabeth George Foundation, The Speculative Literature Foundation, Vermont Studio Center, Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference, Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and The Kerouac Project, where she was the spring 2023 writer-in-residence. She also holds an MFA from The New School. Joy is at work on a novel and short story collection and is represented by Peter Steinberg at United Talent Agency (UTA). Find her online at www.JoyBaglio.com and www.PioneerValleyWriters.com.