SHREVEPORT – Authors in April is returning for the first time in three years with New York Times best-selling author Kathleen Kent headlining the event.
Kent, an accomplished historical fiction and crime novelist, will discuss her works April 29 at a noon luncheon at the Shreveport Convention Center.
To purchase $50 tickets, contact Marty Young at Marty.Young@lsus.edu or by phone at 318-797-5339.
The event is a fundraiser for LSUS’s Pioneer Heritage Center, which maintains seven historic structures on the east side of the campus.
“The main focus for Authors in April is to produce a literary event that would attract people, and we’re really excited to have Kathleen Kent for our first event in three years,” said Young, the director of the Pioneer Heritage Center. “We like to have authors who write in the history or historical fiction realm, and (Kent) has written historical fiction like ‘The Heretic’s Daughter’ and ‘The Traitor’s Wife’.
“(Kent’s) work not only speaks for itself in the research she does, but she’s also a direct descendant from one of the 13 victims of the Salem Witch Trials.”
Some of Kent’s works will be available for purchase, and Kent will be on hand to sign and discuss her novels.
Kent is a Texas native who decided to pursue writing full-time after a career as a Department of Defense contractor assigned to the Soviet Union in the 1990s.
She published three historical fiction novels – “The Heretic’s Daughter” (2008), “The Traitor’s Wife” (2011) and “The Outcasts” (2013).
Kent dipped her toe in the crime novel world with her trilogy featuring detective Betty Rhyzyk, resulting in Edgar Award nominations for “The Dime” (2017) and “The Burn” (2020) before finishing the series with “The Pledge” in 2021. The trilogy landed her on the NYT best-seller list.
Her latest work is spy thriller “Black Wolf” published in February as she leans into her Department of Defense experience to write about a female CIA agent in the heart of the Soviet Union. The book is receiving rave reviews in the U.S. and the United Kingdom.
Kent was inducted into the Texas Institute for Letters for her contribution to Texas literature.
This year is the 29th annual Authors in April, which has featured past authors like Amor Towles (A Gentleman in Moscow), Stephen E. Ambrose (Band of Brothers), Willie Morris (My Dog Skip) and Robert M. Edsel (The Monuments Men).
