Episode Details

Barbara Kingsolver is a lauded writer. But the art doesn’t stop there. She’s also a pianist.

Like Livia, the main character in her new novel, “Partia,” Kingsolver also left her humble roots in Appalachia to go to college on a piano scholarship. In part, it’s what inspired her to write this book.

“Very few people have written about music from the inside,” she tells host Kerri Miller on Big Books and Bold Ideas. “I’ve never read a novel about a pianist from a pianist point of view. I loved the challenge of translating one art form into another.”

Kingsolver composed “Partita” like a musical partita — a series of parts that makes a whole. Livia is enthralled with her music during her early days at college and has big dreams. But then she falls madly in love for the first time, and her path is forever changed.

“Partita” is a reflection on the “what ifs” of life, but even more, it’s a story about redemption, love and the power of music.

Guest:

• Barbara Kingsolver the author of ten bestselling works of fiction, including “Demon Copperhead,” “Unsheltered” and “The Poisonwood Bible.” Her new novel is “Partita.”

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