Author and playwright Kate Anger will be reading and discussing her new novel, The Shinnery, on Oct. 17 from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Packer Forum on the third floor of the Brown Library at Abilene Christian University. 

Anger is also a lecturer at the University of California-Riverside, and The Shinnery is her debut novel.  The story, set in the Texas frontier, includes extensive genealogical and newspaper research from West Texas. The novel will be available for purchase at the event, and lunch will be provided as well. 

The ACU Department of Language and Literature, the Student Government Association and Sigma Tau Delta are sponsoring the event, and Dr. Shelly Sanders, writer-in-residence and professor of language and literature, said the department is thrilled to host Anger. 

“This is a great opportunity for us to kick off the academic year,” Sanders said. “This novel is a Texas frontier story that also happens to be beautifully descriptive and deeply observant of family dynamics and the need for faith in devastating times. We have several events on the horizon and are excited about the opportunity to bring in authors to share their work with our students.” 

The Shinnery is inspired by an actual nineteenth-century honor killing in Stonewall County, Texas. According to the author’s website,  it “traces a young woman’s betrayal by family and employers, and her path toward revenge and redemption.”  

Publishers Weekly recently reviewed the novel and said “Anger expertly combines fact and fiction to create a riveting narrative richly enhanced by questions of morality, justice and revenge.”

The event is only open to the ACU community but Anger will take part in a free event for the Abilene community at the main branch of the Abilene Public Library at noon on Oct. 14.

Learn more about ACU’s Department of Language and Literature. 

— Connor Mullins

Oct. 4, 2022