On December 16th, The Stoop hosted an evening of live, holiday storytelling at Centerstage, and the theme of the night was: “Thanks but no thanks: stories about the delights and disasters of gifts.” Kate Hanlon was one of the storytellers randomly chosen from the audience, and when she stepped into the spotlight, she told this tale.
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When a young person suffers from mental illness, it takes an emotional toll on the whole family. That collateral damage is at the heart of Katharine Noel’s debut novel, Halfway House. It’s the story of a teenage girl whose bipolar disorder corrodes her parents’ marriage. Noel joins us to read an excerpt from late in the novel: The girl’s father, Pieter, has gone out ice skating, alone, down a frozen river in rural New Hampshire, and he finds himself cold, exhausted, and disoriented.
You can hear Katharine Noel read from her work on Tuesday evening, January 7th, at 7:00. She’ll be presenting as part of the Starts Here! author series at Artifact Coffee, 1500 Union Avenue in Woodberry
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Benn Ray from Atomic Books always has great recommendations for holiday reading, and this year is no exception. He joins producer Lisa Morgan with some selections filled with local flavor, plus a few releases that challenge the very notion of what a “book” should look like.
You can check out Benn's complete list of recommendations at The Signal's Facebook page
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Rafael Alvarez joins us to read a work of holiday fiction that’s become something of an annual tradition here on the radio program. ‘Aunt Lola’ is a story about the power of memory in the kitchen of a Highlandtown rowhouse.