Author Event: Barbara Kingsolver, Partita
Thursday, November 12, 2026 · 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM EST
Hunt Library, Duke Energy Hall · Raleigh, NC
About this event
Purchase tickets here.: https://quailridgebooks.com/event/barbarakingsolver26 Join us for an evening with Pulitzer Prize-winning author Barbara Kingsolver, with musical accompaniment by NC State student Timothy Vo. This is a ticketed event in partnership with our friends at Quail Ridge Books. A limited number of free tickets are available for current NC State students on a first-come, first-served basis. Students must submit this form (https://www.lib.ncsu.edu/events/author-event-barbara-kingsolver/student-tickets) (requires Shibboleth login with a student account) to register for the event and present their student IDs at the door. Free student tickets do not include a copy of the book, but books may be purchased on site. Members of the general public must purchase tickets from Quail Ridge Books (https://quailridgebooks.com/event/barbarakingsolver26). Tickets include a copy of Partita. Books will not be signed. This is a moderated conversation only and will not include a signing or meet and greet line. ABOUT THE BOOK The story of a brief, passionate, life-changing love affair, wrapped up in what might be the greatest romance of all: our eternal human longing for art and beauty. Livia Cable has made her peace with her marriage and modest livelihood in the farm country where she grew up, until a shocking phone call from an old lover shakes her to the core. Decades earlier, this man knew her as Livia Bohusz, a music conservatory student estranged from her home and family, uncertain of anything except her passion for music and promise as an extraordinary pianist. His request, now, to see her again stirs up ghosts she’s kept at bay for a lifetime. Shifting between past and present, Livia’s decision to meet or reject the reunion means confronting step by step, in memories framed as musical dances, the experiences of childhood loss, abandonment, self-immolating passion and perilous attachment to a man who broke her belief in love and ruptured the course of her life. With razor-sharp acuity and deep affection, Pulitzer Prize winner Barbara Kingsolver’s unforgettable new novel reflects on class barriers, the risks of ambition and the timeless, life-changing power of art. Barbara Kingsolver is the author of ten bestselling works of fiction, including the novels Unsheltered, The Bean Trees and The Poisonwood Bible, as well as books of poetry, essays, creative nonfiction and Coyote’s Wild Home, a children’s book co-authored with Lily Kingsolver. She also collaborated with family members on the influential Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Kingsolver’s work has been translated into more than thirty languages and has earned a devoted readership at home and abroad. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and has received numerous awards and honors including the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel, Demon Copperhead, the National Humanities Medal, and most recently, the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. She lives with her husband on a farm in southern Appalachia.
Event details
- Date and time
- Thursday, November 12, 2026 · 6:30 PM – 7:30 PM EST
- Venue
- Hunt Library, Duke Energy Hall · Raleigh, NC
- Category
- Family
- Cost
- Cost not stated
- Age guidance
- Age guidance not specified
- Format
- In person
- Last verified
- October 1, 2026
Accessibility
Wheelchair: Not stated
Assistive Listening: Not stated
More family events in Raleigh, NC
About these listings
Events come from local sources and are reviewed before publication. Details can change; check with the organizer before you go. Unknown information is always labeled.