The local literary community is always working, creating and crafting to express themselves and connect with readers.<\/p>\n
Three mainstays of the community have books either recently released or forthcoming; while certainly there are more worthy titles coming out of Columbia and mid-Missouri, these definitively deserve mention.<\/p>\n
Daren Dean, “Lovesick”<\/p>\n
While readers should also have their eyes out for Dean’s forthcoming novel “Shelter Me” (out in October), the former Columbia resident and Lincoln University professor offers a wondrous literary curio here. “Lovesick” gathers short works of prose, from creative, craft-focused nonfiction and prose poetry to a couple stories. Perhaps most compelling is the story “Severe Weather,” which both captures a tarnished father-child reunion and its namesake storms. (“They both sat there quietly for a moment until the thunder died out in a poignant echo,” Dean writes. “Some jagged white and purple lightning strikes shook the house when they hit the ground.”)<\/p>\n
Sharon Feltman (ed.), “Soul of Our Soul”<\/p>\n
The local poet edited and contributes to this collection, subtitled “Palestine in Poetry and Prose 2025.” Mid-Missourians will recognize the likes of Cass Donish, Cam Whelr and Barbara Leonhard among a strong list of writers. Feltman, otherwise known as Sharon SingingMoon, excels at gathering literary talent whether on the page or in person, so the anthology comes with promises.<\/p>\n
Janet Saidi, “Jane Austen: The Original Romance Novelist”<\/p>\n
Out this month, this text extends the local radio stalwart’s fascination with Austen, the animating force behind her project The Austen Connection, already a successful podcast and newsletter. The book “offers a deep dive into Austen\u2019s personal life, uncovering lesser-known aspects of her relationships, inspiration and personal struggles,” according to a news release. Saidi will enjoy a book launch Sept. 30 at Skylark Bookshop. Learn more about the event at https:\/\/www.skylarkbookshop.com\/new-events<\/a>.<\/p>\n Aarik Danielsen is the features and culture editor for the Tribune. Contact him at adanielsen@columbiatribune.com.\u00a0He’s on Twitter\/X @aarikdanielsen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The local literary community is always working, creating and crafting to express themselves and connect with readers. Three…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122743,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[55],"tags":[414,11364,78557,223,3807,51551,16705,25827,25829,5613,5577,88,44221,5201,7970,6747,74432,8385,13470,13471,5573,13692],"class_list":["post-122742","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-books","tag-and","tag-audience","tag-austen","tag-books","tag-books-and-literature","tag-books-comics-and-other-literature","tag-books-u0026-literature","tag-ccj","tag-ccj-audience","tag-columbia","tag-comics","tag-entertainment","tag-jane","tag-jane-austen","tag-literature","tag-missouri","tag-mo","tag-other","tag-overall","tag-overall-positive","tag-positive","tag-u0026"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122742","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122742"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122742\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122742"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122742"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122742"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}