NC Author Among SIBA’s Spring Okra Picks

The Southeastern Independent Booksellers Alliance (SIBA) has announced their 2019 Spring Okra Picks.

Among the picks is the debut novel by Belle Boggs, The Gulf, a “hilarious send-up of writing workshops, for-profit education, and the gulf between believers and nonbelievers.”

Belle is an associate professor in the Department of English at the North Carolina State University. She has published work in Glimmer Train, Oxford American, and Best New American Voices 2003. She received an MA in fiction from the University of California at Irvine and grew up in King William County, Virginia. She is the author of the short-story collection Mattaponi Queen: Stories (Graywolf Press, 2010) and the collection of essays The Art of Waiting: On Fertility, Medicine, and Motherhood (Graywolf Press, 2016).

“Belle Boggs has established herself as both a stellar writer of fiction and a brilliant voice on important issues within our society,” says NC Literary Hall of Fame inductee Jill McCorkle. “In this fine novel, her many talents come together.”

The novel includes blurbs by NC Literary Hall of Fame inductee Lee Smith; and authors Aimee Bender and Kevin Wilson.

“Not to be missed,” says Shelf Awareness. “A rare combination of silliness and poignancy, with momentum and compassion…This is a novel of keen comedy, insight, and empathy.”

For the full list of Spring 2019 Okra picks, click here.