New Dominion Bookshop to host an evening with author Henry Hoke

New Dominion Bookshop will host a book reading and signing with author Henry Hoke on Friday, Aug. 25, at 7 p.m.

Hoke will be reading from his new novel, Open Throat, which was released from MCD/Macmillan.

A conversation with author Jocelyn Nicole Johnson will follow.

This in-person event will be free to attend and open to the public. The bookshop recommends arriving early for the best seating.

The book is about a queer and dangerously hungry mountain lion lives in the drought-devastated land under the Hollywood sign. Lonely and fascinated by humanity’s foibles, the lion spends their days protecting a nearby homeless encampment, observing hikers complain about their trauma, and, in quiet moments, grappling with the complexities of their gender identity, memories of a vicious father and the indignities of sentience. As the lion confronts a carousel of temptations and threats, they take us on a tour that spans the cruel inequalities of Los Angeles and the toll of climate grief. But even when salvation finally seems within reach, they are forced to face down the ultimate question: Do they want to eat a person or become one?

Hoke grew up in Charlottesville. He is the author of four previous books, most recently the memoir Sticker from Bloomsbury. He cocreated Enter>text, a performance series in Los Angeles and has taught at CalArts and the UVA Young Writers Workshop. He edits humor at The Offing.

Johnson is the author of My Monticello, a fiction debut that was called “a masterly feat” by The New York Times and placed third on Time Magazine’s 10 Best Fiction Books of 2021. My Monticello won the Library of Virginia Fiction Award, the Weatherford Award, the Lillian Smith Prize, and the Balcones Prize, and was a finalist for many others, including a National Book Critics Circle Award, a Pen/Faulkner Award, and an LA Times Book Award. A veteran public school art teacher, Johnson lives and writes in Charlottesville.

New Dominion Bookshop is located at 404 E Main St. in Charlottesville.

For more information, visit ndbookshop.com.