Moscow author Annie Lampman will mark the release of her debut novel, “Sins of the Bees,” with an online reading at 7 p.m. Sept. 1 on Zoom.
The novel follows arborist Silvania August Moonbeam Merigal, who finds herself alone when the last of her family dies. After suffering a sexual assault and becoming pregnant she is ready to end her own life, until she discovers evidence of a long-lost grandmother.
Desperate for connection to family, she traces her grandmother’s path to a religious, anti-government, armed cult called Almost Paradise embedded deep in Idaho’s Hells Canyon. The compound is led by charismatic leader Len Dietz and includes impregnated child brides called the Twelve Maidens. As the story evolves, Silvania finds herself entangled in a family that threatens to destroy her.
The book is published by Pegasus/Simon & Schuster. Publisher’s Weekly called it an “affecting, lyrical debut” and named Lampman a writer to watch.
Lampman grew up in Headquarters, Idaho, and attended Lewis-Clark State College and the University of Idaho, where she earned a Master of Fine Arts in creative writing. She works as an associate professor of Honors Creative Writing at Washington State University Honors College.
“Sins of the Bees” won a 2020 American Fiction Award in the thriller and crime category from American Book Fest. Lampman’s other honors include a 2020 Literature Fellowship Special Mention from the Idaho Commission on the Arts and a Dogwood Literary Award in Fiction.
The Zoom reading is organized by BookPeople of Moscow and the University of Idaho MFA in Creative Writing program. The link to join is uidaho.zoom.us/j/92847044110.
She will also read online at 11 a.m. Sept. 11. The link to register is https://honors.wsu.edu/official-registration/.
Local authors can submit information about newly published books and events to arts@inland360.com.
