Growing up, I wished the last week in July would never end. Because that was when my grandparents, parents, aunts, uncles and cousins loaded up and headed toward the coast.

 
We spent days with our toes in the sand and nights staying up late playing Scrabble and Spades, eventually falling asleep by the light of the moon, the sound of waves crashing onto the shore a lullaby.

 
During those weeks, our grandparents didn’t just give us the gift of a vacation. They gave us a family that doesn’t only see each other and make small talk at Christmas. A real, true unit of twenty-five, give or take, who remembers the year we all got hermit crabs or caught sneaking out or that speeding ticket.

 

I don’t see my family every day, but I carry them in my cells, in the very marrow of who I am, not just because we share DNA but because we share stories. I bring what growing up in a family like mine meant to me onto every page I write.

It is the firm foundation of my books, including, Under the Southern Sky, where investigative journalist Amelia discovers that a cluster of embryos belonging to her childhood friend Parker and his late wife have been deemed abandoned.
 

Parker, with Amelia by his side, must decide what to do with what is the last remaining part of his great love. And both of them learn, like I did during all those summers by the shore, that family—the one you’re born into and the one you create—is always closer than you think.  

—Kristy Woodson Harvey
 

See Kristy Woodson Harvey on tour!

Monday, April 26

LIVE Literary Guild of St. Simons Island, Casino Building, St. Simons Island, GA, 10:30 am, Free to Guild Members, $10 for Non-Members, Book Sales by GJ Ford Bookshop, Click for More Information.

VIRTUAL Bank Square Books in Conversation with Kristin Harmel, 1 pm, Free & Open to the Public. Register here.

LIVE Wine & Sign with Oxford Exchange, The Commerce Club, 420 West Kennedy Blvd, Tampa, FL 33606, 6:30 pm, $15 ticket includes cocktails and light bites. Register here. 

Tuesday, April 27

LIVE USC Beaufort Center for the Arts Breakfast, 9 am. Tickets Available Here.

SOLD OUT LIVE USC Beaufort Luncheon, 12 pm.

Wednesday, April 28

VIRTUAL  “Thoughts from a Page” Literary Salon, 11am CST.

VIRTUAL Friends & Fiction Live, 7 pm, Friends & Fiction Facebook Page.

Thursday, April 29

VIRTUAL South Carolina State Library, 7 pm.

VIRTUAL Lowcountry Book Club Chat, 8 pm, Lowcountry Book Club Facebook Page.

Friday, April 30

SOLD OUT LIVE  Literary Luncheon to support Beaufort Historic Site, Beaufort Hotel, Beaufort, NC, 11:30 am, Tickets $40. Make Reservations at www.one.bidpal.net/southernsky or call 252-728-5225.

Saturday, May 1

LIVE “Seriously Southern Cocktail Party,” Porch Parties with Signature Cocktails and Heavy Hors d’oeuvres to Benefit Beaufort Historical Association, Beaufort Historic Site, $80 per ticket, 4:30 pm. Make Reservations at www.one.bidpal.net/southernsky or call 252-728-5225.

Sunday, May 2

LIVE (Private) National Charity League Mothers & Daughters Annual Awards Event, Camp Albemarle, Newport, NC, 4 pm.

Thursday, May 6

VIRTUAL Wine & Words with Wade, 6:30 pm, Live on Facebook.

Monday, May 17

VIRTUAL Friends & Fiction Book Club, Live, 7 pm, Facebook Live.