Shelby Van Pelt - Opening Keynote Speaker

Shelby Van Pelt’s Remarkably Bright Creatures, published by Ecco/HarperCollins (US) and Bloomsbury (UK), is an award winning debut novel about a widow’s unlikely friendship with a giant Pacific octopus reluctantly residing at the local aquarium—and the truths she finally uncovers about her son’s disappearance 30 years ago.

Van Pelt's book is a New York Times Best Seller spending more than 2-years on this illustrious list. It was also selected by booksellers as an IndieNext pick, and a Jenna's Book Club selection.

Born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, Van Pelt currently resides in the Chicagoland area with her family.

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.

Community Reads, Fiction, Friendship & Community, Mystery & Thriller

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Vicksburg Performing Arts Center, 501 East Highway Street, Vicksburg, United States

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