The following readings will be held at City Lights Bookstore in downtown Sylva. All readings are free and open to the public.

  • Kristen Gleason will discuss her short story collection, “The Wallet and Other Thefts,” in conversation with Rebecca Caldwell at 3 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 3. A winner of the BOMB Fiction Prize and White Review Short Story Prize, the collection explores theft, shame, exile, masochism and God through precise, surreal and interconnected stories.
  • W. Jason Miller will discuss “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood: Nina Simone, Langston Hughes, and the Birth of Black Power” at 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4. The book explores the important but little-known friendship between singer Nina Simone and poet Langston Hughes, who supported each other during the civil rights and Black Power eras. Miller is a Distinguished Professor of English at North Carolina State University.
  • David Arthur Smith will present “Letters from the Qualla Boundary: William C. McCarthy’s Reports as Special Agent to the Eastern Cherokees, 1875–1876,” at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 8. McCarthy’s letters offer a rare firsthand account of the U.S. government’s relationship with the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and efforts involving land, agriculture, education and economic development.

The readings are free and open to the public. For more information, visit citylightsnc.com or call 828.586.9499.