CapLit is delighted to feature selections from the novel Coyoteland by Vanessa Hua and “The Photograph,” a story from Welcome Back to the World by Rob Davidson on Friday, May 22nd, at 7PM at the Auditorium at CLARA.
In Vanessa Hua’s newest novel, Coyoteland, an upscale East Bay community is threatened by wildfires, its own feuding families, and even a marauding coyote. LitHub named Coyoteland a Most Anticipated Novel of 2026, saying, “Who among us doesn’t enjoy a messy, layered family drama? Coyoteland promises to be as dynamic and explosive a suburban drama as Little Fires Everywhere.”
Rob Davidson’s recently published short story collection, Welcome Back to the World, won praise from Kirkus Reviews, which described his prose as “by turns clever and soulful, capturing his characters at their most curmudgeonly before dragging them, often against their will, toward greater vulnerability.” Indeed, in “The Photograph,” a sensible university budget analyst finds himself the unwitting subject of a famous photographer’s project, with unexpected results.
Author Bios
Vanessa Hua is the author of the national bestsellers A River of Stars and Forbidden City, as well as Deceit and Other Possibilities, a New York Times Editors’ Choice. A National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow, she has also received a Rona Jaffe Foundation Writers’ Award, the Asian/Pacific American Award for Literature, a California Arts Council Fellowship, and a Steinbeck Fellowship in Creative Writing, as well as honors from the de Groot Foundation, the Society of Professional Journalists, and the Asian American Journalists Association, among others. She was a finalist for the California Book Award, the Northern California Book Award, and the New American Voices Award. Previously, she was an award-winning columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle. She has filed stories from China, Burma, South Korea, Ecuador, and Panama, and her work has appeared in publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Atlantic. She teaches at the Warren Wilson MFA Program and elsewhere. The daughter of Chinese immigrants, she lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her family.
Rob Davidson is the author of six books, including Welcome Back to the World: A
Novella and Stories (Cornerstone Press, 2024), winner of the 2025 National Indie
Excellence Award in Short Stories. Davidson’s additional honors include a Fulbright award, the Camber Press Fiction Prize (judged by Ron Carlson), multiple Pushcart Prize nominations, and an AWP Intro Journals Project Award in fiction. Twice appointed Artist in Residence at the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild, Rob has led workshops at the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival, the Anderson Island Writing Retreat, the Redding Writers Forum, and other events. His fiction, essays and interviews have appeared in ZYZZYVA, Hayden’s Ferry Review, Indiana Review, New Delta Review, South Dakota Review, and elsewhere. He teaches creative writing and American literature at California State University, Chico.
Heads-up! We are now selling the wine at our events
Starting with our May event, wine will be available for purchase only. This is to be in compliance with state regulations about serving alcohol at non-profit events open to the public. We’ll be offering wines from our friends at Lucid Winery for $3 a glass. Have you been to their airy, books-filled space on R Street? It’s worth a visit with a glass of their organic California wine.
Sue’s famous cookies remain free! We know some of you come for the cookies and stay for the stories. ;-) Let’s hope the state cookie control board doesn’t turn their beady eye on us!
Event Details
The Auditorium at CLARA is at 1425 24th St., in Midtown Sacramento. Doors open at 6:30pm. $10 donation suggested; no one turned away for lack of funds. Parking: $5 in the CLARA lot; free parking is also available on the street.
As always, there will be a raffle and cookies!
We’ll announce the actors for our May 22nd event in our next newsletter!