Mary Kay Zuravleff – American Ending

Mary Kay Zuravleff is the author most recently of the novel American Ending, a story inspired by the experiences of her grandparents, Old Believer Russian Orthodox emigres. She combined those experiences to tell the story of immigrants recruited into the dangerous work America needs to have done but which workers are reluctant to do. The book seems entirely appropriate to our times.

Her characters live in the Appalachian mining town of Marianna, Pennsylvania, during the early years of the twentieth century. The narrator of the novel, Yelena, wants more for herself than the limited life patterned out for her. This is a place where the girls are married off by the age of 14, soon start to have babies and try to manage their households with limited incomes and young husbands who themselves dropped out of school to go work in the coal mines. Their story is one of compromised goals and dreams, and grasping at whatever opportunities come along.

The title suggests a simple divide that may not always be so visible in the world: In the American ending, stories end happily. The prince rushes in, slays the dragon, and he saves the princess. That’s versus the Russian ending, where things are not so happy. There is at least compromise, loss, diminishment. The prince might rush in and slay the dragon but he might find the princess is beyond saving in some way.

Mary Kay Zuravleff is the award-winning author of the previous novels Man Alive, which was a Washington Post notable book; The Bowl is Already Broken, which the New York Times called a “tart, affectionate satire of the museum world’s bickering and scheming;” and The Frequency of Souls, a story of love, electricity and life after death. She has won the American Academy of Art’s Rosenthal Award, the James Jones First Novel Award, and multiple artist fellowships from the DC Commission on the Arts.

“If your people aren’t on the shelf, you need to write that book.”

• Immigration stories are American stories. American Ending explores the lived experiences of Russian immigrants in early 20th-century coal towns and how questions of belonging, labor, and citizenship echo into the present.
• Identity is shaped by place and pressure. Though Elena is born in America, her sense of self is constantly challenged by family, religion, labor systems, and cultural expectations.
• Historical fiction requires restraint and rigor. Mary Kay discusses how deep research—rather than limiting creativity—opened new narrative possibilities while grounding the story in reality.
• Community memory matters. The novel has sparked powerful conversations in book clubs and communities across the country, revealing how many families still carry untold immigrant histories.

#ImmigrantStories

#HistoricalFiction

#AmericanIdentity

Connect with Mary Kay Zuravleff:

Website

Book

Instagram

LinkedIn

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Upstart Crow: Library Reads Special Edition – Fairfax Local Author Festival

In this special edition of Upstart Crow, host Jennifer Disano visits the Fairfax Regional Library for the Local Author Festival, recorded November 15, 2025 in Fairfax, VA. Jennifer sat down with 16 talented authors and received submissions from 2 additional writers, exploring a wide variety of books, from memoirs and children’s stories to historical fiction, fantasy, and literary fiction. Each author shared insights into their creative process and delivered a captivating synopsis of their work.

Authors and Featured Books:

• Carolyn Belefski – Curls, Black Magic Tales (artwork), Adventures of Roxy and Dean
• Kristen Amundson – Grandparent Effect: Helping Children Thrive Through Love, Support and Connection
• Rebecca Hayden – Murder of Maggie Slipper, The Second Life of Brencie Jessup
• Kacy Cooney – Seeking Solace, In the Maze of Imagination
• Roy Whitehurst – Teaching Media Literacy with Social Media News
• Karma Shri P Murti – Lanka’s Forgotten Lives, Lully series
• Kayla Sanders – Mojada: Memoir of a Honduran Immigrant
• Leslie Lautenslager – My Time with General Colin Powell: Stories of Kindness, Diplomacy, and Protocol
• Jerry Markowitz – Hugs Poetic Life, Exploring Kindness and Respect
• Henry Brinton – War Bug
• Rick Spees – Capital Gains, Capital Losses
• Eric Smolinski (E.R. Smo) – Accrue's End series: Affliction, Provenance
• Kat Needham – Shepherd Girl: A Dog Story, Una and the Fox
• Beka Wueste – The Unsent Letters of Lucy Pryor, Fireflies in a Jar, My Side of the World and Other Tales of Death
• Keisha Strand – I Need a Friend, What If We Went?
• Dave Hatcher – Son of the Heartland: On the Way to the Promised Land
• Deanna Reina – MENtal: A Preposterous Pursuit of Love
• Janet Macreery – The Falls

List of all authors at the festival here.

Fairfax County Public Library and the Fairfax Library Foundation made this festival possible, supporting local authors and ensuring the community could engage with these incredible stories.

#FairfaxLocalAuthors

#LibraryAuthorFestival

#CommunityReads

#FairfaxVA

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Thank you for listening to Upstart Crow, a part of Watershed Lit Radio.

© 2025 Upstart Crow Podcast – All Rights Reserved

Hosted & Recorded by Jennifer Disano

Edited & Produced by Jon D PodCom

Andy Shallal – A Seat at the Table

Andy Shallal has been a voice for social causes in and around Washington, DC, so consistently and for so many years that many who stop in at one of his Busboys and Poets restaurants, bookshops and event spaces may think of him more as a social activist than as a restauranteur. But he grew up in a restaurant. His father, who came to the U.S. as a diplomat, bought a pizza restaurant in Northern Virginia when Andy was 13. His father hired someone to run the restaurant six days a week, but on Sundays, Andy, his brother, and his sister helped their father run the place. Andy would do whatever task had to be done and dream of what he would do if the restaurant were his own.

Some years later, after working for several other restaurants, he indeed was running his own place. In those days, the food might have come first. Even if the political activism was not far behind as a consideration. Today, 20 years after he opened the first Busboys, Andy now operates eight locations, each of which is a haven for writers, thinkers, performers of the literary and musical arts—as well as people who like well-prepared, congenially served food and drinks. In his memoir, A Seat at the Table, he tells how it all came to be, and how he came to create and helm it.

You can get a copy of Andy Shallal’s memoir at any of the bookstores in Busboy’s or from the publisher, O/R Books (orbooks.com). https://orbooks.com/catalog/A-seat-at-the-table/ and is also available in audiobook.

Hosted by William Miller

“Food is basically a way to bring people together to the table… people remember experiences much more than they remember the actual food.” -Andy Shallal

Key Takeaways

• Andy’s lifelong relationship with restaurants began at 13, helping his father run a small family pizza shop on Sundays.
• His early experiences as an immigrant shaped his worldview and later inspired his commitment to building inclusive, human-centered gathering spaces.
• After years of working in different restaurants, Andy opened his own spaces—each blending hospitality with art, community, and social engagement.
• Busboys and Poets was created as a place where food, conversation, books, and civic dialogue could thrive together.
• His memoir A Seat at the Table explores not just the creation of Busboys and Poets, but the deeper cultural, political, and personal forces that guided his journey.

#BusboysAndPoets #ImmigrantStory #SocialEntrepreneurship

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Thank you for listening to Upstart Crow, a part of Watershed Lit Radio.

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© 2025 Upstart Crow Podcast – All Rights Reserved

Recorded & Produced by Jon D PodCom