Upcoming Events
Views expressed by speakers do not necessarily reflect the views of Blacksburg Books.Children’s Story Hour is every Saturday at 11 AM!
Diane Flynt & Anna Zeide: Apples in Appalachia - Culinary and Cultural Connections
SOLD OUT! Event is now full. Email to join waitlist.
Join us for a discussion of the importance of apples in the history of Appalachia. This event will include a cider tasting and apple treats. The event is free but registration is required - please email us to secure your spot!
Diane Flynt is the founder of Foggy Ridge Cider and author of Wild, Tamed, Lost, Revived: The Surprising History of Apples in the South.
Anna Zeide is the founding director of the Food Studies Program at Virginia Tech and is the author of US History in 15 Foods.
Book signing with Betül Tunç
***We STRONGLY recommend that you prepay for a book to guarantee you get a copy.
Baker and social media star Betül Tunç will be in-store to sign copies of her first cookbook, Turkuaz Kitchen!
Betül Tunç’s love affair with dough began when she was just eight years old in Erzurum, a city nestled in northeastern Turkey known for its long and snowy winters. During the dark, frosty days, she found solace baking Turkish breads and desserts with her mother and sisters.
In the cookbook, she shares shares 85 recipes for sweet and savory doughs and the dishes to make with them. With inspiration from traditional Turkish recipes, as well as recipes she discovered in her travels, Turkuaz Kitchen is a treasure trove of recipes.
Poetry Open Mic Night
Come to read your own original poetry, something by your favorite poet, or come just to listen. Musicians are also welcome to jam with the poets. No advance registration required and everyone is welcome!
This event happens every fourth Friday of the month!
Oathbreakers: Book Launch with Matthew Gabriele
Join us for an evening with Matthew Gabriele, co-author of The Bright Ages, as he discusses his new book - a real-life Game of Thrones—the story of the Carolingian Civil War, a bloody, protracted battle pitting brother against brother, father against son, that would end an empire, upend a continent, and redefine the future of Europe.
By the early ninth century, the Carolingian empire was at the height of its power. The Franks, led by Charlemagne, had built the largest European domain since Rome in its heyday. Though they jockeyed for power, prestige, and profit, the Frankish elites enjoyed political and cultural consensus. But just two generations later, their world was in shambles. Civil war, once an unthinkable threat, had erupted after Louis the Pious’s sons tried to overthrow him—and then placed their knives at the other’s neck. Families who had once charged into battle together now drew each other’s blood.
The Carolingian Civil War would rage for years as kings fought kings, brother faced off against brother, and sons challenged fathers. Oathbreakers is the dramatic history of this brutal, turbulent time. Medieval historians David M. Perry and Matthew Gabriele illuminate what happens when a once unshakeable political and cultural order breaks down and long suppressed tensions flare into deadly violence. Drawn from rich primary sources, featuring a wide cast of characters, packed with dramatic twists and turns, this is history that rivals the greatest fictional epics—with consequences that continue to shape our own world.
Oathbreakers offers lessons of what deep cracks in a once-stable social and political fabric might reveal, and the bloody consequences of disagreeing on facts and reality. The Civil War at the heart of this tale asks: who is “in” and who is “out”? And what happens when things fall apart?
Onyx Storm Midnight Release Party!
Join us for the release of Onyx Storm! We’ll have snacks, trivia, and more.
The party is open to anyone who preorders the book through us!
More details to come…
Ellery Adams & Krista Davis in Conversation
Two of our favorite cozy mystery authors will be here to discuss the genre, the writing process, and answer all of your questions about cozies!
Ellery Adams is the author of the The Secret, Book & Scone Society mysteries, The Book Retreat Mysteries, The Charmed Pie Shoppe Mysteries, and The Books By the Bay Mysteries.
Krista Davis is the author of The Domestic Diva Mysteries, The Paws and Claws Mysteries, and The Pen & Ink Mysteries.
November Book Club
Join us at Moon Hollow Brewing to discuss November’s book club pick—Claire Keegan’s Small Things Like These.
No registration needed, just show up! All book club participants receive 10% off their drinks.
Spooky Short Story & Coloring Contest
Let's get it spooky in here - Blacksburg Books & 16 Blocks are sponsoring a coloring AND/OR short story contest!
In the words of Hunter S Thompson, "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
Check out the spooky artwork of downtown Blacksburg’s historic Alexander Black House, drawn by artist Rita Brame. Then, (a) color it in, (b) write a short story (3000 words or less), or (c) both! The winning artist will receive a $30 gift card to Blacksburg Books, and the winning author will be published in 16 Blocks Magazine.
For peak spookiness, the deadline is October 31st.
You can pick up copies of the drawing in our store (available now!), or email us for a digital copy.
You can email your finished stories to info@blacksburgbooks.com. Coloring sheets can be turned into the store or emailed back to us!
Spooky Story Time!
Kick off Downtown Trick or Treat with us! We'll read two spooky (but not scary!) stories and have some fun Halloween freebies.
And candy, of course!
Blacksburg Books after dark - with The Coffee Cauldron!
More of a night owl than an early worm? Come hang out with us after dark! We'll be open extra hours from 8-11 so you can shop, read, or just hang out. The Coffee Cauldron will be here with coffee, hot chocolate, and baked goods so you can get comfy (or caffeinated) and stay a while!
Poetry Open Mic Night
Come to read your own original poetry, something by your favorite poet, or come just to listen. Musicians are also welcome to jam with the poets. No advance registration required and everyone is welcome!
This event happens every fourth Friday of the month!
Book Launch with Mindy Quigley
Enjoy Chrismukkah treats along with a reading from the fourth installment of the Deep Dish Mystery series and a discussion with the author!
Author Night with Bessie Flores Zaldivar
Join us as we host Bessie Flores Zaldívar to talk about her first novel, Libertad - a queer YA coming-of-age set during the rigged Honduran presidential election about a young poet discovering the courage it takes to speak her truth about the people and country she loves. It’s already received two starred reviews, is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, and a Kirkus Reviews Editor’s Pick!
As the contentious 2017 presidential election looms and protests rage across every corner of the city, life in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, churns louder and faster. For her part, high school senior Libertad (Libi) Morazán takes heart in writing political poetry for her anonymous Instagram account and a budding romance with someone new. But things come to a head when Mami sees texts on her phone mentioning a kiss with a girl and Libi discovers her beloved older brother, Maynor, playing a major role in the protests. As Libertad faces the political and social corruption around her, stifling homophobia at home and school, and ramped up threats to her poetry online, she begins dreaming of a future in which she doesn’t have to hide who she is or worry about someone she loves losing their life just for speaking up. Then the ultimate tragedy strikes, and leaving her family and friends—plus the only home she’s ever known—might be her only option.
Bessie Flores Zaldívar is a queer writer from Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Bessie received her MFA from Virginia Tech and is currently based in the New Haven area, where she is a professor of fiction at Quinnipiac University.
Author Night with Megan Doney & Chanlee Luu
Join us as we host Megan Doney and Chanlee Luu, winners of the Washington Writers Publishing House Prize in nonfiction and poetry, respectively.
Megan Doney - Unarmed: An American Educator's Memoir
After surviving a school shooting at New River Community College in Christiansburg, Virginia, English professor Megan Doney was traumatized and adrift. Rather than hardening her heart and life, she wrote Unarmed: An American Educator’s Memoir. An insightful response to American gun violence and illusions of public and private safety, it’s also about her journey over the past decade toward living with an open heart, alive to luck, learning, and love.
Chanlee Luu - The Machine Autocorrects Code to I
A knock-out debut that erases the boundaries of time and geography with unrestrained wit, The Machine Autocorrects Code to I holds its subjects - family members at odds with their hopes and fears, various fruits and animals constrained by the laws of humans, and an alien seeking beauty in the world - with tenderness and wry knowledge of the fragile systems that hold their world in place. This universe of poems wanders through the messy past, battles in the charged present, and dreams/nightmares to the unknown future. In this experiment in forms, Chanlee Luu is a mad scientist, cracking Asian jokes, shoveling golden sand, and coding her voice to vitality.
The authors will read from their books as well as talk about the writing process and getting published with a small press.
Spooky Book Fair
Our biggest event of the year! We’ll be set up at Moon Hollow Brewing with hundreds and hundreds of books for spooky season!
Thrillers? Yep!
Dark fantasy? Sure!
Sci-fi? Yasssss.
True Crime? You betcha.
Disquieting body horror? Of course!
Bleak postapocalyptic epics? You know it!
Love gone wrong? Always.
Weird literary fiction that doesn’t really make sense but fills you with dread? Our favorite!
And so much more!
Moon Hollow will have drink specials, we’ll have raffles and prizes, and we’ll also have a selection of spooky book-adjacent fun stuff for sale - think stickers, tote bags, and other fun stuff.
Please join us!
Book signing with Paul Lubaczewski
This one's for the kids, the parents, and anyone interested in the supernatural! Author Paul Lubaczewski will be here to sign copies of The Haunted States of America. Fifty two different stories. Fifty two different Authors. Endless fright for all ages.
Every state has an urban legend that evokes fear and curiosity in equal parts, and we've chronicled all of these logic-defying horrors here in the Haunted States of America anthology.
From the Jersey Devil to La Llorona, each story included introduces a new chill inducing, stomach churning monster, spectre, or poltergeist certain to keep you up at night. A broad ranging collection of authors, including seasoned veterans and some first timers making a fright-tastic debut, have all united to unearth the scariest lore from each state in the US, as well as D.C. and Puerto Rico. Make sure to strap in for this spooky cross country tour, but be extra careful not to let any of these terrors follow you home.
Paul Lubaczewski authored the West Virginia entry in the book!
Allan Wolf: Get Your Tantrum On!
Children's Poet and Author, Allan Wolf, will give a fun, interactive family presentation of poetry and readings from his many books for kids and introduce his latest book, How to Tantrum Like a Champion: Ten Small Ways to Temper Big Feelings.
An award-winning poet and master presenter, Wolf performs poetry from memory, mixing theatre, music, juggling, and lots of audience participation.
A tantrum competition and book signing will follow!
Author Night with Paige Lavoie
Paige Lavoie, author of the customer and employee favorite "I'm in Love with Mothman" series, will be here to talk books, love, and cryptids. Please join us!
Author Night with Valerie Burns
Agatha and Edgar Award-nominated author Valerie Burns will join us in store to discuss and answer questions about her newest cozy mystery—A Cup of Flour, A Pinch of Death!
September Book Club - Spooky style!
As we creep into Spooky Season, this month's pick is Will My Cat Eat My Eyeballs by Caitlyn Doughty. Doughty is a mortician and she answers the best and weirdest questions she’s received about what happens to our bodies after we die—but in a fun and entertaining way - we promise!
Moon Hollow will be offering 10% off drinks for all participants!
Beginning Again: Stories of Movement and Migration in Appalachia
Join us for a book launch celebration and discussion of Beginning Again: Stories of Movement and Migration in Appalachia. This new oral history collection is out now from Voice of Witness and Haymarket Books, edited by Virginia Tech professor Katrina Powell with a foreword from poet-activist Nikki Giovanni.
Appalachia has been a place of movement and migration—for individuals, families, and entire communities—for centuries. This book brings together oral histories of refugees, migrants, and generations-long residents that explore complex journeys of resettlement. In these stories, Appalachia—despite how it’s popularly portrayed—is not simply a monolithic region of white poverty and strife. It is a diverse place where belonging and connection are created despite displacement, resource extraction, and inequality.
Taken together, the narratives present a nuanced look at life in contemporary Appalachia, expand our ideas of who belongs, and add to the growing body of works that counter damaging myths of the region.
Book Signing with Ashley Shew, Savannah Mandel, and Richard Hirsch
We're excited to collaborate with Eastern Divide Brewing to host three Virginia Tech authors - Ashley Shew, Savannah Mandel, and Richard Hirsh. Join us for an afternoon of local books and local brews!
Ashley Shew is the author of Against Technoableism: Rethinking Who Needs Improvement.
Savannah Mandel is the author of Ground Control: An Argument for the End of Human Space Exploration.
Richard Hirsch is the author of Powering American Farms: the Overlooked Origins of Rural Electrification.
Eastern Divide is an accessible location and welcomes folks of all ages.
Tote Bag 20!
Bring in your Blacksburg Books tote bag and receive 20% off your book purchase!! Time to stock up for back to school, do some early holiday shopping, or prepare for the apocalypse!
This is good for all in-stock books, with the exception of consignment books (which are only like 0.001% of our stock).
Poetry Open Mic Night
Come to read your own original poetry, something by your favorite poet, or come just to listen. Musicians are also welcome to jam with the poets. No advance registration required and everyone is welcome!
This event happens every fourth Friday of the month!
A Conversation with Lauren McDuffie
If you've ever looked through our cookbook selection, chances are that one of us has come over and GUSHED about Smoke, Roots, Mountain, Harvest: Recipes and Stories Inspired by my Appalachian Home by Lauren McDuffie. It's one of our very favorites.
Now Lauren has a new cookbook called Homeade-ish and we're thrilled that she'll be here to talk about it! Creating and enjoying home-cooked food is time well spent, but sometimes we’re busy—almost too busy—to be bothered with the task of cooking, with the work of it all. How do we reconcile the impact and importance of providing home-cooked meals with the ever-lurking busyness that threatens to send us dashing to our doors to answer the call of our latest food deliveries? What do we do about this?
Homemade-ish is a sassy, no-guilt cookbook, with more than 100 quick-and-easy recipes, that support busy folks wanting to provide healthy home-cooked meals for their family.
Blacksburg native and Virginia Tech grad Lauren McDuffie is an award-winning food blogger, photographer/stylist, and cookbook author. She lives in Portland, OR with her family.
Author Night with Elle Cosimano
Join us for a Q&A with bestselling author Elle Cosimano, and for a reading from her newest novel, Finlay Donovan Rolls the Dice! This is the fourth installment of the hit Finlay Donovan series and is perfect for cozy mystery lovers!
Three-year anniversary!
It’s our three year anniversary! Or third birthday! Or something! Join us to celebrate with 20% off (almost) everything in the store, raffles & prizes, and sweet treats!
Thanks for all of your support and love. We like you too. :)
Steppin' Out Sidewalk Sale
Down on Main Street, across from Cabo Fish Taco, we'll have a booth with tons of Blind Dates, new releases, stickers, and all sorts of cool bookish merch, but up at the store we'll be having a Sidewalk Sale!
Hardcovers are $2, paperbacks are $1. We'll have tons of thrillers—many of them first editions and/or signed—and this is your chance to stock up on summer reading! So stop by the store AND our booth to say hi!
Poetry Open Mic Night
Come to read your own original poetry, something by your favorite poet, or come just to listen. Musicians are also welcome to jam with the poets. No advance registration required and everyone is welcome!
This event happens every fourth Friday of the month!
July Book Club
Come hang with us at Moon Hollow Brewing to discuss this month’s book club pick—Fever Dream by Samanta Schweblin!
“One of the freshest new voices to come out of the Spanish language and translated into English for the first time, Samanta Schweblin creates an aura of strange psychological menace and otherworldly reality in this absorbing, unsettling, taut novel.”
All book club participants will receive 10% off their drinks at Moon Hollow!
Typewriter Poetry with Dandy Line Poetry Booth
Come see Dandy Line Poetry Booth in store for a custom typewriter poem!
Find Waldo - a townwide scavenger hunt!
This summer we’ll be joining multiple other communities in doing our very own Find Waldo scavenger hunt!
To join in the fun, people can simply pick up a “Find Waldo Local in Blacksburg!” stamp card at Blacksburg Books. Then, visit participating spots all through July to find Waldo and get your card stamped. We’ll have a celebration party and award some great prizes on July 31st at 3:00 - and the grand prize will be presented by Mayor Leslie Hager-Smith herself!
The list of participating stores includes:
Annie Kay’s/Imaginations Toy Company
Stamp cards will be available on July 1st!
Poetry Open Mic Night
Come to read your own original poetry, something by your favorite poet, or come just to listen. Musicians are also welcome to jam with the poets. No advance registration required and everyone is welcome!
This event happens every fourth Friday of the month!
Summer Solstice Market @ Moon Hollow Brewing
We’ll be over at Moon Hollow Brewing with a bunch of other local vendors for a maker’s market! Shop for books and local goods on the patio while enjoying your favorite craft beer, seltzer or soda.
Vendor Line Up:
37 Latitude Permanent Jewelry
Augusta Poplar Art
Blacksburg Books
Chocolate Spike
Misfit Beauty Club
Odd Fox Pottery
Tomato Cat Urban Farm
Scallywag Letterpress
Stray Shop
The Whole You
Rain or shine event: in the case of inclement weather, vendors will be moved inside.
June Book Club
We will meet at Moon Hollow Brewing to discuss this month’s book club pick—Late Bloomer by Mazey Eddings! All book club participants will receive 10% off their drinks.