A Conversation with Shelby Van Pelt

Bookmarks is thrilled to host New York Times bestselling author Shelby Van Pelt for a conversation with Etaf Rum on Thursday, May 1 at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $25 (plus taxes & fees) and include admission to the event, a paperback copy of Remarkably Bright Creatures, and access to the signing line following the conversation.

To ask questions about accessibility or request accommodations, please contact Bookmarks at [email protected] or (336) 747-1471 x1001. At least two weeks' notice will allow us to provide the best experience possible for you and your guests.

Have any questions? Check out our page and email [email protected] for further inquiries.

A charming, witty and compulsively readable exploration of friendship, reckoning, and hope that traces a widow's unlikely connection with a giant Pacific octopus.

After Tova Sullivan’s husband died, she began working the night shift at the Sowell Bay Aquarium, mopping floors and tidying up. Keeping busy has always helped her cope, which she’s been doing since her eighteen-year-old son, Erik, mysteriously vanished on a boat in Puget Sound over thirty years ago.

Tova becomes acquainted with curmudgeonly Marcellus, a giant Pacific octopus living at the aquarium. Marcellus knows more than anyone can imagine but wouldn’t dream of lifting one of his eight arms for his human captors—until he forms a remarkable friendship with Tova.

Ever the detective, Marcellus deduces what happened the night Tova’s son disappeared. And now Marcellus must use every trick his old invertebrate body can muster to unearth the truth for her before it’s too late.

Shelby Van Pelt’s debut novel is a gentle reminder that sometimes taking a hard look at the past can help uncover a future that once felt impossible.

Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Shelby Van Pelt now misses the mountains in the Chicago area with her husband and children. REMARKABLY BRIGHT CREATURES, her debut novel, was an instant New York Times bestseller.

Etaf Rum was born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, by Palestinian immigrants. Her first novel, A Woman Is No Man, was a New York Times bestseller and a Today Show Read With Jenna book club pick.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Hanesbrands Theatre, 209 North Spruce Street, Winston-Salem, United States