CHRISTINA CLANCY AND THE SNOWBIRDS OF WISCONSIN
Christina Clancy, Bestselling Author of The Snowbirds
Interviewed by Jim Higgins, Book Editor of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Friday, November 7
7:00-8:30 pm
Book Signing: 8:30–9:00 pm
In the Carroll University Campus Center Stackner Ballroom
100 N. East Avenue, Waukesha
Madison author Christina Clancy has launched a career of bestselling novels set in Wisconsin. She’s ready to talk about it and answer your questions. Author of The Snowbirds, Shoulder Season and The Second Home, her novels have been featured in People Magazine, Good Morning America, CNN, Travel & Leisure, Buzzfeed, Pop Sugar, and Shelf Awareness. The Second Home has been optioned for television and film and was selected by independent booksellers as an Indies Introduce and Indie Next pick. Her short stories and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Sun Magazine, and in various literary journals.
About Christina Clancy
Christina Clancy was born in Denver and raised in Milwaukee. She graduated from the University of Minnesota and worked at IBM before returning to school to earn a PhD in creative writing from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. After graduating, she taught English at Beloit College before turning to writing full time. She lives in Madison with her very tall husband in their 1916 prairie-style house when she isn’t “snowbirding” in Palm Springs. She has two grown children who live in Chicago and New York City, and she has a little white dog named Bunny who loves everyone. Christina is a super smeller who can’t stand cilantro, a frequent flyer junkie, a terrible cook, a former cycling instructor, and an avid reader who wishes everyone would read on airplanes. She loves to practice yoga and barre, swim, travel, write, teach, visit book clubs, and join other writers in conversation. Her website is https://www.christiclancywrites.com
About The Snowbirds
Kim and Grant are at a turning point. A couple for thirty years, their “separate but together” partnership is running up against the realities of late middle age: Grant’s mother has died, the college where he taught philosophy was shuttered, and their twin girls are grown and gone. Escaping the bitter cold of a Midwestern winter for the hot desert sun of Palm Springs seems as good a solution as any to the more intractable problems they face.
When they arrive at Le Desert, a quirky condo community where everyone knows everyone’s business, Kim immediately embraces the opportunity to make new friends and explore a more adventurous side of her personality. Meanwhile, Grant struggles to find his footing in this unfamiliar landscape, leaving Kim to wonder if their relationship can survive the snowbird season. But when Grant goes missing on a hike in the Palm Springs mountains, Kim is forced to consider two terrifying outcomes: either Grant is truly lost, or this time, he’s really left her.
Is it ever too late to become the person we wanted to be―and is there still time to change into someone better? The exhilarating, but often confusing transitions of midlife are pitched against the promise and glamour of Palm Springs in this tender, honest story of what it takes to commit to someone for a lifetime. With compassion and humor, Clancy explores the redemptive power of finding ourselves, and of being found.
“The Snowbirds is an insightful, propulsive exploration of modern marriage in middle age, equal parts sharp-eyed and heartwarming. Is it possible to commit to a relationship without losing your identity? What epiphanies might we have while getting lost? Christina Clancy’s novel ponders these questions and more with humor and warmth. Set against the vivid, zany backdrop of Palm Springs and its Hollywood history, populated by a delightful cast of locals and transplants, The Snowbirds asks whether it’s ever too late to find your partner–and yourself.” ―Chloe Benjamin, New York Times bestselling author of The Immortalists