Fran Wilde will be in conversation with C.S.E. Cooney at Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh at 4 p.m. on September 18.

About the book: Award-winning fantasy author Fran Wilde returns to her roots in Clock Star Rose Spine, which brings together poems previously published in Uncanny Magazine, Fireside Magazine, and more with a selection of work never before published. In this collection illuminated with whimsical fountain pen illustrations, Wilde explores family histories, feminism, visual art, disability, mythology, and of course the sea with tangible yearning and keen insight.

Fran Wilde is the double-Nebula award winning author of seven novels for children and adults, as well as numerous short stories, reviews, and essays that cross literary and genre boundaries. Trained as an artist, jeweler, programmer, and poet, Fran received her MFA in poetry from Warren Wilson College and an MA in interaction design from University of Baltimore. She is the genre fiction concentration director at Western Colorado University. This is her first collection of poetry and illustration.