Jeff Zentner is the author of New York Times Notable Book The Serpent King, Goodbye Days, and Rayne & Delilah’s Midnite Matinee. His latest book, In The Wild Light, has drawn critical acclaim. He has won the William C. Morris Award, the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award, the International Literacy Association Award, and the Westchester Fiction Award. He’s a two-time Southern Book Prize finalist, been longlisted for the Carnegie Medal and UKLA, and was a finalist for the Indies Choice Award. He was selected as a Publishers Weekly Flying Start and an Indies Introduce pick. His books have been translated into fifteen languages. Before becoming a writer, he was a musician who recorded with Iggy Pop, Nick Cave, and Debbie Harry. He lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

This program is presented by the WFPL in partnership with the Belmont Public Library, the Wellesley Free Library, Cary Memorial Library, Thomas Crane Public Library, the Public Library of Brookline, Oceanside Library of New York, and Ashland Public Library.

Want to read his books before the program? You can check-out the physical books from the Library, or read/listen to them online with Libby

About the Author, by the Author! Learn more about him at this link.

He became interested in writing for young adults after volunteering at the Tennessee Teen Rock Camp and Southern Girls Rock Camp. As a kid, his parents would take him to the library and drop him off, where he would read until closing time. He worked at various bookstores through high school and college.

He speaks fluent Portuguese, having lived in the Amazon region of Brazil for two years.

Likes:

The words and (and concepts) “murmur,” “petrichor,” and “feuillemort”
Guitars
The American South
High-quality cable television dramas
Autumn
Baby elephants
Cast-iron skillets
Honeysuckle bushes
Kayaking

Dislikes:

Wasps
Man’s inhumanity to man, generally
Fascism, specifically
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