• David Wood, Riverhead

Former Tucsonan Barbara Kingsolver will be in town on Sunday, Nov. 18, to read from her new novel Flight Behavior. The event begins at 7 p.m., at the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave. Kingsolver will autograph books after the reading.

As of this writing, tickets are available, but they are going fast. Only balcony tickets remain. They are $15, available online at www.inconcerttucson.com. You may also purchase tickets at Antigone Books, 411 N. Fourth Ave., or by calling them at 792-3715.

Kingsolver’s new book, Flight Behavior, follows in the Kingsolver tradition of fiction that addresses issues of social justice and demonstrates the impact of culture and politics on human relationships. Set in a small town in Tennessee, the novel tells the story of a young woman mired in an unsatisfying life who happens upon a strange phenomenon: a forested valley filled with silent red fire. Her attempts to share the sight and find an explanation throw her into a spiraling confrontation with her family, her church, her town, her continent, and finally the world at large.

Barbara Kingsolver spent two decades in Tucson before moving to southwestern Virginia where she currently resides. She was named one the most important writers of the 20th Century by Writers Digest. She has received numerous prizes and awards, the most recent of which was the Dayton Literary Peace Prize for the entire body of her work, awarded in 2011.

In 2000, Kingsolver established the Pen/Bellwether Prize for Socially Engaged Fiction, the nation's largest prize for an unpublished first novel. This prize has helped to establish the careers of many new literary voices. The latest recipient is a Tucson author, Naomi Benaron, who won the Pen/Bellwether Prize for her new novel Running the Rift.