The 2017 Virginia Festival of the Book will serve as a homecoming of sorts for one of its centerpiece authors. UVA alum and Hoyns Fellow, Christina Baker Kline (Creative Writing MFA, 1990), will be the featured speaker at the festival’s annual luncheon on March 23rd at The Omni. The sold-out affair will feature Kline discussing her most recent novel, A Piece of the World. Due for release in February of 2017, the book is inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s mysterious and iconic painting “Christina’s World.” As she did in her #1 New York Times bestseller Orphan Train, Kline uses both fact and fiction to vividly reimagine the life of Christina Olson, a young, small-town Maine woman who became the subject of one of the most acclaimed and discussed pieces in 20th Century American art.

Kline knows a thing or two about being a Mainer, splitting her time between New Jersey and the northeasternmost U.S. state. However, her connection to Virginia is also strong and includes time spent as a Fellow at the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (VCCA) in addition to her work at the University. The author will speak about these influences at the Virginia Festival of the Book luncheon as well as focusing on her forthcoming novel and its place in her writing career.

The 23rd Annual Virginia Festival of the Book will take place from March 22-26.

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