Back to All Events

Author Talk with Caroline Ailanthus: Birfurcation Events

  • Jesup Memorial Library 34 Mt. Desert Street Bar Harbor, Maine 04609 (map)

Join us for an author talk with Caroline Ailanthus on her latest book Bifurcation Events, a compelling short-fiction cycle that weaves together one novel, two novellas, and five short stories. This session, followed by a Q&A, will feature selected readings from the novel and discuss how the experience of the COVID-19 pandemic influenced the creation of these interconnected stories.

About the novel: 
There are moments that divide life into before and after. Death can do it. Any disaster can. But so can miracles. So can love.
Andy, a scientist, calls these moments bifurcation events, a technical term that may or may not apply literally. He's seen his share, most dramatically in the complete collapse of the civilization of his youth--and the beginnings of another. His story, or part of it, was told in the novel, Ecological Memory. Here are the related stories of some of his family and friends.

One novel.
Two novellas
Five short stories.
Bifurcation Events


About the author:
Caroline Ailanthus is a novelist, blogger, and free-lance writer and editor. Most of her work revolves around science somehow, even her fiction. Or, perhaps, especially her fiction. She is the author of three novels, To Give a Rose, Ecological Memory, and Bifurcation Events, as well as various blogs, short stories and essays.
Caroline grew up in Delaware and attended various small, odd schools, mostly in New England. She has a BA in Environmental Leadership and an MS in Conservation Biology. She now lives in Maryland with her husband and assorted dogs and cats. When she’s not writing, she can usually be found either walking her beagles or making a complete mess of the kitchen.