For me, so much of the past year has felt as if we were all finally emerging from the long, dark tunnel of self-isolation necessary due to the pandemic. Since vaccines have become readily available, the world has been reconnecting in person, and for me, being able to gather with colleagues and fans again has been absolutely glorious.
So, this year of reconnecting in snapshots:
February: Keynoting the Savannah Book Festival (and falling in love with that historic city).
March: Once again sitting on panels at the Tucson Festival of Books with friends like Longmire author Craig Johnson.
April: Winning the Lefty for my novel Lightning Strike in Albuquerque at the first in-person gathering of Left Coast Crime since the pandemic descended.
May: Hanging out with the ChickLits in New Castle, Delaware, just before delivering a One Book/One Community address about This Tender Land to an audience of more than a thousand.
July: The honor of having my big face placed on the wall of the Blue Earth Community Library alongside the images of Mark Twain, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Dr. Seuss.
August: Seeing Fox Creek debut at #5 on the New York Times bestseller list—and the thirty-some bookstore tour that followed.
November: Checking off the long-standing bucket list item of visiting Big Bend National Park.
So, lots of travels in the past year. But that didn’t keep me from the work that I love. I completed manuscripts for two writing projects. The first is a novella titled The Levee, which will be released as a Simon and Schuster original audiobook on February 28. It’s the story of four men who, during the worst flood in our nation’s history, are sent on a perilous mission to rescue a family trapped by the raging waters. I first attempted to write this story nearly fifty years ago. Which just goes to show you that a writer should never throw anything away.
The second manuscript is a standalone novel titled The River We Remember, which will release in September. I’ll be talking a great deal more about this novel in the future. For now, I’ll just say that I love the story, which like my other standalones Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land is set in southern Minnesota in an earlier time.
As we close out this year and look toward the next, I hope that all of you have come out of whatever darkness the pandemic plunged you into, and that you have something on your horizon that excites you and gives you the anticipation of much joy.
I absolutely love your books please don’t ever stop
I can’t tell you what a thrill it was meeting you at the Fargo Library! Your Cork O’Connor series has enriched my life. I have always had a reverence for the Native way of life. And now I add my love for Henry’s words of wisdom. So simple yet deep. Thank you, so much!!! Keep writing!!!
My name has a typo when I commented! Sorry! It’s Karen Lee
Happy New Year, Kent! So wonderful to see your star rising so high. So well deserved.
Happy New Year!!! The pandemic “ brought us together”when you guested on friends and fiction ( which would never have happened without the pandemic )
As we emerge from the darkness of the past few years, we are bound to stumble and misstep in our rush toward the first path we believe will return us to the place we yearn to be. But that path is often deceptive, leading us only to greater darkness. Headlines offer evidence of the many ways we are falling prey to the empty promises of the anesthetics we choose to deal with our fear, anger, and perceptions of powerlessness and purposelessness.
All of your novels, Kent, end on a note of hope. That may be what draws me so strongly to them–the idea that, despite the evil that gives rise to the conflicts at the heart of your plots, the forces of good win out.
Your stories teach two immutable truths: Good is more powerful than evil, and light can conquer the darkness. We need to hold fast to these truths as we create our future.
A few thoughts from the Bluebird of Happiness lady. . .
I just finished “Iron Lake” and cried and cried. Thanks! Will read further about Cork and his family. (I just hope Jo gets over her “class” prejudgudices. How she categorized Molly was really unforgivable even if she felt slighted.)
Found you from praise by Louise Penny. I think Cork and Gamache
would be firm friends. They both are the essence of kindness with an understanding of inner rage.
In my early 20’s, I discovered the Travis McGee novels by John D. McDonald. I learned a lot of history that was not taught in my school. In my late 50’s, I discovered Cork O’Connor and the beautiful writing of William Kent Krueger. In addition to learning about the history of our treatment of Native lands and people, I am learning about current threats to our lands and our people. Just finished reading Fox Creek on the same day Sunday Morning did a story on the near depletion of the Great Salt Lake. Your writing is current, provocative, and a call to action for those who read and hear your message. Love the characters, the scenery, the relationships, and Henry. Thank you for enriching our lives!
I have read all of your books in the Cork O’Conner series and LOVE them!!
Do I sense that Cork’s son will become the main character in the next book ?? ( Please !)
Thank you for this series – enjoyed reading them and am looking forward to more 🙂