Upcoming Events
Views expressed by speakers do not necessarily reflect the views of Blacksburg Books.
Book Club collab with VT Neuroscience - Never Enough, chapters 7-11
Join us for a discussion of the bestselling book Never Enough by Judith Grisel.
From a renowned behavioral neuroscientist and recovering addict, a rare page-turning work of science that draws on personal insights to reveal how drugs work, the dangerous hold they can take on the brain, and the surprising way to combat today's epidemic of addiction.
Students and faculty from Virginia Tech's Neuroscience Department will join the discussion. Please note that there are TWO meetings to discuss the book - February 25th and March 18th. Come to either or both - everyone is welcome!
MFA Salon
The MFA Salon is back for the spring semester! Join us for an evening of poetry & prose from the up-and-coming writers of Virginia Tech’s MFA in Creative Writing program!
Email tsophia@vt.edu with questions and for accommodations.
Author event with Kevin Moffett & Matthew Vollmer
Kevin Moffett will read from his novel Only Son, which was longlisted for the National Book Award, and Matt Vollmer’s going to surpise us. This event is free and open to everyone!
Open Mic Poetry 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!
Author event with Jeffrey Bennett
Join us for an evening with Jeffrey Bennett as he discusses his new book, The Black Belt of Virginia: Untold Stories of African American History, which contains powerful stories left out of most history books.
Bennett reveals the hidden legacy of Black Virginians. From 1865 to 1877, over 80 Black politicians served across the state. Learn about a brave Black woman who spied on Confederate President Jefferson Davis while disguised as an enslaved worker.
See the history of more than seventy Black communities lost in Virginia. Read the story of a 135-year-old church and the meaning behind land passed down through generations. These stories show the strength and impact of Black families before and after slavery.
Perfect for history lovers and older readers, this collection brings forgotten voices back to life. This event is free and open to everyone!
April Banned Book Club
Join us to discuss Pumpkin by Julie Murphy! Banned for: LGBT content, drag queens, openly gay main character
Storytelling
Our first Storytelling event of the new year was snowed out so let’s give it another try! Click through for more details.
April General Book Club
Our April book club pick is Agatha Christie’s A Murder is Announced! We’ll meet at Moon Hollow Brewing to discuss this whodunit. Books are available for purchase in store. Participants receive 10% off their drinks.
Author event with Emily Matchar!
Join us for an event with returning author Emily Matchar, author of In the Shadow of the Greenbrier!
The Lost Girl of Craven County tells the story of a young Jewish woman in depression-era Appalachia uncovering secrets of the past. A decade into the Depression, Millicent Green is a 25-year-old "old maid" living with her marriage-obsessed mother and domineering older brother in the stiflingly small Jewish community of New Bern, North Carolina. Smart and prickly, she’s struggling to find her place in the world following the loss of her beloved younger brother, and with him, her dreams for the future. One humid August day, Millie is sent to run an errand and discovers a young woman unconscious on the ground. This mystery woman, mute and without identification, will upend Millie’s life. Together, they set out on a quest that will lay bare some of the 20th century’s most shameful episodes. From a historic river town to the hinterlands of rural North Carolina, The Lost Girl of Craven County delves into the impossibility of burying secrets forever.
Poetry event with Michael Hettich
In this heartfelt, heartbreaking collection, Michael Hettich reaches into the wilds to find some measure of the eternal that might wedge itself between himself and the unthinkable: the death of his beloved. He calls upon memory as if to rewind their lives together and forestall the inevitable. He immerses himself in the forces that might provide some solace, might somehow outlast the darkness, the silence. In language as vivid as the pulsing life around him—the swollen creeks, the mountains; sky, stars, and wind; birds and bears—he contains those elements and lets them speak.
—Marie Harris, Desire Lines
Michael Hettich has published more than a dozen books of poetry, most recently The Halo of Bees: New and Selected Poems, 1990-2022 which won the 2024 Brockman-Campbell Book Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society. His other honors include several Individual Artist Fellowships from the Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, The Tampa Review Prize in Poetry, the David Martinson / Meadowhawk Prize, a Florida Book Award, the Lena M. Shull Book Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society, and the inaugural Hudson-Fowler Prize from Slant magazine at the University of Central Arkansas. His poetry, essays, and reviews have appeared in many journals and anthologies. He holds a Ph.D. in literature and taught for many years at Miami Dade College. He lives in Black Mountain, North Carolina.
Open Mic Poetry 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!
Indie Bookstore Day!
Join us for our FIFTH Indie Bookstore Day—a national party held the last Saturday in April that celebrates independent bookstores across the country.
AGAIN this year we’ll be participating in the Libro.fm Golden Ticket Giveaway - find the Golden Ticket hidden in our store and win free audiobook credits!
We'll have IBD exclusives and freebies, and raffles to win all sorts of cool prizes!
And of course, there will be snacks. Join us!
An evening with Nic Brown: The Violent Femmes’ Violent Femmes
Through rare access to the Violent Femmes and their archives, this book investigates the creation of such iconic songs as "Blister in the Sun", "Kiss Off", "Add it Up" and "Prove My Love", as well as the album's recording process.
The self-titled debut from Milwaukee post-punk acoustic trio the Violent Femmes is one of those rare albums that seems to have altered the course of popular music and influenced just about everyone who heard it while also managing to operate almost entirely outside of the mainstream. Released in 1983 to little sales or attention, the band was so iconoclastic that it couldn't even engender support from Milwaukee's anti-establishment punk scene. Over the ensuing years, though, Violent Femmes managed to exert itself as an unstoppable cultural force, ascending the college radio charts and spreading through word-of-mouth.
Violent Femmes didn't sound like anything else when it was made, and it still doesn't sound like anything else. The album somehow exists both outside of time and as one of the most evocative and enduring artifacts of the alternative '80's.
Nic will chat about his book and answer questions. As always, this event is free and open to everyone!
Baseball Obscura: Author Event with David J. Fleming
Join us for a night of talking baseball with David Fleming, author of Baseball Obscura 2026!
David Fleming’s Baseball Obscura 2026 combines analytics with engaging essays and opinions: the annual book features in-depth team essays, player rankings, and reflections on subjects as far reaching as the Speedway Classic, baseball’s fraught entanglement with sports betting, and how fans might claim a seat at the table during next year’s labor negotiations. Packed with insights and humor, Baseball Obscura is the thinking fan's guide to baseball in 2026.
Click through for more details.
Mollie Ann Cox in conversation with Mindy Quigley
Join us for an event with two fantastic authors - Mollie Ann Cox and Mindy Quigley - to celebrate the release of Cox's second Eliza Hamilton mystery!
The widow of Alexander Hamilton faces another mystery -it’s December 1805, and Eliza Hamilton is determined to seek justice. One young woman is dead, another has vanished—both residents of a house where Eliza’s friend, Alice, lives among other craftswomen struggling to survive in a city unforgiving toward widows and orphans.
With no help from the constabulary because the young woman’s body was found in a bad part of town–and was dressed as a man–Eliza vows to protect the women and uncover the truth. She suspects a connection between the death and the disappearance, especially given that the young lady who disappeared went missing while searching for the woman who was later found dead.
As Eliza traces their last known steps, she unearths a hidden world of dangerous secrets lurking beneath the city—secrets that could tear apart everything she holds dear. This pulse-racing historical mystery will intrigue and delight anyone fascinated by the founding fathers and feminist history.
Mollie Ann Cox is the author of several popular mystery series, also writing under the pen named Maggie Blackburn and Mollie Cox Bryan. Her books have been selected as finalists for an Agatha Award and a Daphne du Maurier Award and as a Top 10 Beach Reads by Woman's World. She lives in Charlottesville, VA.
Mindy Quigley is the author of several books, including the Six Feet Deep series, the most recent installment of which has been nominated for an Agatha Award. She lives in Blacksburg, VA.
Author event with Cassie Miller!
My Life with the Walter Boys meets The Notebook in this small town baseball romance perfect for fans of Kasie West and Carley Fortune.
High school junior Eliza Crowley is known as the Princess of Fairfield, a farm town in North Carolina that loves two things--tradition and baseball. Although Eliza loves "the game," her life goal is to become a lighting designer on Broadway. Shaking off her reputation as the rich girl and focusing on her town's community theater production are what she's set her sights on this summer, and nothing will stand in her way. That is until Reed Fulton, the grandson of a struggling Fairfield farmer, and ace pitcher of the Fulton Hawks, returns to town. Reed dreams of putting the catastrophe of last season behind him and leading the Hawks to a championship victory against the Crowley Cardinals. When his childhood friend turned stranger, Eliza, strolls back into his life, she makes his heart accelerate quicker than his fastball, and he's not sure he can stay away from the girl he's supposed to despise. Small-town summers and baseball draw Reed and Eliza together, even though the Crowleys and the Fultons are determined to run each other out of town. When the families make a deal to settle their thirty-year-long dispute once and for all, Eliza and Reed are stuck in the middle during the most important summer of their lives.
Storytelling
Our first Storytelling event of the new year was snowed out so let’s give it another try! Click through for more details.
March Banned Books Club
Join us to discuss Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler! Banned for: themes of racism, poverty, feminism, climate change
*Content warnings for violence and sexual assault.
Publication Day Book Launch Event with Shakespeare Okuni!
Join us for the launch of Shakespeare Okuni’s book of poetry, A Twist of Rotten Silk or Words to That Effect. The author and participants will read poems from the book - no preparation necessary. Then the author will take questions and facilitate a discussion about his poetry, the life of poems before and after they are released into the world, and what poetry means to each of us.
About the author: Shakespeare Okuni practiced with Footsbarn Travelling Theatre and the Werdyn Gypsy Horse Circus before running away from the circus to act and direct in England, France, Ghana, and Lebanon. He is the author of Black Box, a play for the actors of the National Theatre of Ghana, and Mabinogion, a libretto for string quartet, flute, and storyteller. With The Dreaming Chorus, a series of devised theatre workshops, he is developing a new piece drawn from William Shakespeareʼs unsettled plays. A Twist of Rotten Silk or Words to That Effect is his first book.
Open Mic Poetry 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! NOTE: at the end of the evening, two copies of Shakespeare Okuni’s A Twist of Rotten Silk, or Words to that Effect will be given away in advance of Okuni’s February 28th event!
Book Club collab with VT Neuroscience - Never Enough, chapters 1-6
Join us for a discussion of the bestselling book Never Enough by Judith Grisel.
From a renowned behavioral neuroscientist and recovering addict, a rare page-turning work of science that draws on personal insights to reveal how drugs work, the dangerous hold they can take on the brain, and the surprising way to combat today's epidemic of addiction.
Students and faculty from Virginia Tech's Neuroscience Department will join the discussion. Please note that there are TWO meetings to discuss the book - February 25th and March 18th. Come to either or both - everyone is welcome!
The Work of Hands and Hearts - Poetry and Prose from Patrick Dacey and Aaron Fagan
“The Work of Hands and Hearts” is an intimate literary event celebrating the dignity, struggle, and spirit of working people through poetry and fiction. Acclaimed poet Aaron Fagan and award-winning fiction writer Patrick Dacey will share selections from their work that explore labor, class, and the everyday beauty found in persistence. A Q&A will follow.
Bookdazzling!
THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT!
Our first one got snowed out, so let’s try this again!
Bring your favorite book and join us over at Moon Hollow for a night of sparkle! Participants will decorate and personalize books using gems, turning ordinary covers into dazzling works of art. You’ll get your own bedazzling kit to take home with you! BONUS: the event will be hosted by author extraordinaire Mindy Quigley!
This event is $25 and registration is required. You can register here!
MFA Salon
The MFA Salon is back for the spring semester! Join us for an evening of poetry & prose from the up-and-coming writers of Virginia Tech’s MFA in Creative Writing program!
Email tsophia@vt.edu with questions and for accommodations.
Y'allentine's Book Fair
HECK YEAH the Y'allentine's Book Fair is back, and all y'all are invited!
We'll be at Moon Hollow Brewing with SO MANY BOOKS.
Moon Hollow will have drink specials, Tomato Cat will have sweet treats, the gardener will be there to provide typewriter poetry, and Stonecrop Farm will be there with dried flower arrangements - it's your V-day one-stop shop!
Stop by for:
romantic love
twisted love
doomed love
obsessive love
terrifying love
all the other kinds of love
and fun!
Ron Peterson Jr. Author Talk and Q&A
Virginia-based true crime author Ron Peterson Jr. will be in store to discuss his newest book, Runaway Groom, before turning the floor over to the audience for questions!
Click through for more info!
Chocolate Spike Pop-Up
Chocolate Spike will be in-store slinging all kinds of goodies! Chocolate bark, truffles, chocolate-covered fruit! Swing by before the staff buys everything :)
CANCELED: Storytelling
Storytelling is CANCELED this month due to weather. Our next storytelling will be on March 6th - see y’all then!
CANCELED: Bookdazzling!
This event is CANCELED due to weather. We will be rescheduling, so stay tuned!
February Banned Books Club
Join us to discuss Ban This Book by Alan Gratz! Banned for: being about book bans and “subverting the authority of school boards.”
Open Mic Poetry 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!
Chocolate Spike Pop-Up
Chocolate Spike will be in-store slinging all kinds of goodies! Chocolate bark, truffles, chocolate-covered fruit! Swing by before the staff buys everything :)
Experts Next Door: Hermit Crabs
Our next ‘Expert Next Door’ is Mary Akers. She has authored fiction, essays, and poetry, and is the most successful breeder of land hermit crabs in the world!
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!
Winter Lights Holiday Parade
In our yearly tradition, we’ll be staying open late for Blacksburg’s Winter Lights Festival and Parade! We’ll have cookies and hot cider in the store starting at 6:30 PM. The parade starts at 7:30 PM and we’ve got front row seats! Hang out in the heat for as long as you want before braving the cold on the sidewalk :)
Author event with Amanda Cockrell
Amanda Cockrell will be here to discuss her new novel, Are You Now or Have You Ever Been - a timely and compelling novel set during Hollywood's blacklist years.
Elizabeth Sydney's film career spanned the Golden Age of Hollywood and barely survived Sen. Joe McCarthy's infamous Red Scare hunt for Communists that produced a blacklist that shattered careers. Some of her costars and writer friends weren't so lucky. Now she wants to be buried in her back yard and the will is invalid if she doesn't get her way. A combustible assortment of industry friends, family, former lovers, a man no one has hitherto heard of, half a dozen charitable beneficiaries, and an ungovernable horde of media descend on the small California town where she retired and picked out a spot in her oak grove. As they try to break the will, her reasons begin to surface in the story of an old betrayal of friends by friends and by the country's own government
Small Business Saturday!
Come shop to celebrate our fifth Small Business Saturday! Click through for more information!
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!
Author event with Allan Wolf!
Blacksburg native son is back with another fantastic book for kids - and this time it's a graphic novel!
This is the strange, true tale of a Louisiana lake that vanished—taking with it every fish below and every boat and barge above.
Home to catfish and crawdads, shrimp and spoonbills, even a gator or two, Lake Peigneur—pronounced “your pain,” only backward—bustles also with human life. Each day, the bean-shaped freshwater lake and its shores hum with folks going about their work: a devoted gardener’s apprentice and his dogs, fishermen, oilmen drilling at Well P-20, and the fifty-one miners employed by the Diamond Crystal Salt Mines. For most, November 20, 1980, began as “just another day on the lake.” But as the lake itself reflects, humans had, over time, left behind a honeycomb of salt highways deep beneath its surface, and water and salt mix all too well.
Bracing, suspenseful, and packed with dramatic illustrations and dense end matter, this story of a catastrophic accident—narrated with the homespun voice of a “tall” tale, but true nonetheless—will amaze science and history buffs alike.
As always, this event is free and open to everyone, and there's plenty of parking around back!
MFA Salon
An evening of poetry and prose with writers from Virginia Tech’s MFA in Creative Writing program.
