The National Willa Cather Center is honored and delighted to welcome acclaimed writer Karen Russell to the Red Cloud Opera House to discuss her new novel, The Antidote. Set in Uz, a fictional Nebraska town, in the aftermath of Black Sunday, The Antidote follows a "Prairie Witch,” whose body serves as a bank vault for peoples’ memories and secrets; a Polish wheat farmer who learns how quickly a hoarded blessing can become a curse; his orphan niece, a basketball star and witch’s apprentice in furious flight from her grief; a voluble scarecrow; and a New Deal photographer whose time-traveling camera threatens to reveal both the town’s secrets and its fate. 

Russell will sign copies of her book in the National Willa Cather Center bookstore immediately following her talk. You won't want to miss this free and in-person event! 

The Antidote is also available for preorder from our bookstore and can be shipped or picked up after its release date on March 11.

Funding was provided by Humanities Nebraska and the Nebraska Cultural Endowment. The views expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views of Humanities Nebraska, the Nebraska Cultural Endowment, or the Willa Cather Foundation.

About Karen Russell

Karen Russell is the author of six books of fiction, including the New York Times bestsellers Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove. She has received MacArthur and Guggenheim Fellowships and was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Born and raised in Miami, Florida, she now lives in Portland, Oregon with her husband, son, and daughter. The Antidote is her second novel.