“Art has, at its core, a highly individual, stubborn regard for truth. And only a few truths are pretty. ” The idea of “Truth” is often used as a bright and shining banner in regards to morality, justice and faith. An idiom easily blended with other pillars of virtue and carved into marble on federal buildings. But as Sallie Bingham bluntly reminds those of us who live in the real world: “…few truths are pretty. ” This is the breed of truth that both stares us in the face with brooding eyes and provides a rational comfort in times of desperation. This is the truth that relies not on masks, but mirrors to reflect the authenticity around us. And this is truth Sallie Bingham seeks to capture with her own art in her latest book, Mending: New and Selected Stories.
A collection of stories that “radiate with an honesty that is as insistent as it is compassionate,” Mending – soon to be released nationally by Sarabande Books this October – follows the often cruel course of yearning and its disappointments throughout a lifetime. Spanning a career of over 50 years from Bingham’s youth in Louisville to the stark landscapes of New Mexico, Sallie Bingham seeks to tell a multi-generational story of the heart’s “inexhaustible hope” for a place to belong.
A local icon known for her work as a writer, teacher and feminist, Bingham published her first novel, After Such Knowledge, in 1961 with Houghton Mifflin. With short fiction featured in anthologies such as Best American Short Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards and The Harvard Advocate Centennial Anthology, Bingham has also published four additional collections of short stories, six novels, three collections of poetry, numerous plays (produced both off-Broadway and regionally) and the family memoir, Passion and Prejudice (Knopf). Locally, Sallie Bingham worked as a book editor for The Courier Journal and is the founder of The Kentucky Foundation for Women.
Visit Carmichael’s Bookstore at their Frankfort Avenue location this Sunday, September 18th for a first look and listen of Bingham’s Mending: New and Selected Stories. Beginning at 4pm, Bingham will read choice passages from the new collection as well as pen signatures. Mending is on Carmichaels’ shelves now, available in paperback for $16.95 and in hardcover for $22.95. Don’t miss this chance to rub shoulders with a Louisville legend of words, and introduce her work to the next generation of truth-seekers.
Carmichael’s Bookstore has two area locations 1295 Bardstown Road and 2720 Frankfort Avenue
For more information on this event, visit Sallie Bingham’s event page on the Carmichael’s website or call the Frankfort Avenue store at 896-6950
Photo: Courtesy of Sallie Bingham’s Website www.salliebingham.com