An Evening With Patricia Grace King
Featured Book
Those Who Vanish (Drue Heinz Literature Prize, 37)
Winner of the 2026 Drue Heinz Literature Prize Taking place during the decades-long civil conflict, Those Who Vanish follows the stories of Guatemalan citizens and North American expats set on a collision course by war. Martyrs and missionaries, guerrillas and gringos are thrown together amid political violence. A peace worker shelters a rebel fighter. An exile returns to confront the legacy of her parents’ murders. The Virgin Mary begins appearing above an elderly woman’s stove. Set in a world of daily disappearances, the collection addresses a vital question: When all certainties are snatched away, what remains of lives, of memory, of faith?
About This Event
Join us on Saturday, October 24th for An Evening with Patricia Grace King! She'll be chatting with Shirley Showalter about her new book, Those Who Vanish.
Taking place during the decades-long civil conflict, Those Who Vanish follows the stories of Guatemalan citizens and North American expats set on a collision course by war. Martyrs and missionaries, guerrillas and gringos are thrown together amid political violence. A peace worker shelters a rebel fighter. An exile returns to confront the legacy of her parents' murders. The Virgin Mary begins appearing above an elderly woman's stove. Set in a world of daily disappearances, the collection addresses a vital question: When all certainties are snatched away, what remains of lives, of memory, of faith?
Featured Author
Patricia Grace King
Patricia Grace King is the author of the story collection, Those Who Vanish, winner of the 2026 Drue Heinz Literature Prize. Her short fiction has won the Arts & Letters Fiction Prize, the Miami University Novella Prize, and the Northern Writers Award in the UK. A finalist for the 2023 PEN Bellwether Prize, Patricia’s debut novel manuscript was also longlisted for the 2023 McKitterick Prize. Her writing has been supported by a scholarship from the Sewanee Writers’ Conference and fellowships from the University of Wisconsin, the Vermont Studio Center, and the Eccles Centre at the British Library in London. She holds an MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson College and a Ph.D. in English from Emory University, where she was a Dean’s Teaching Fellow. Born and raised in the American South, she now lives with her husband in northern England, where she is completing a second novel.
In Conversation With
Shirley Showalter
Shirely Showalter is the founder of Grandmas For Love and author of several books, including her memoir Blush: A Mennonite Girl Meets a Glittering World. With a PhD from the University of Texas at Austin, Showalter served as a professor and then president of Goshen College in Indiana and as a foundation executive at the Fetzer Institute in Michigan. She and her husband live in Lititz, Pennsylvania.
About the Venue
Aaron's Books
Founded in 2005, Aaron’s Books is a fiercely independent bookstore, offering new and used books for all ages and interests. As with every good independent bookstore, the store’s focus is on community involvement – providing goods and services that enhance the quality of life in Lititz and throughout Lancaster County. Visit us in person at 35 E. Main Street, Lititz PA!
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