B’rer Rabbit, trickster of the Uncle Remus tales. A chicken’s head bobbing in a bowl of soup, its dead eyes accusing the diner. Cockroaches, venomous snakes, biting frogs. These are among the lively characters in Joan Brooks Baker’s second book, a collection of stories called In the Swampyland, which spans the author’s life from her childhood in New York City to her eye-opening, sometimes-risky world travels. In the Swampyland examines the world in which Baker grew up and aims equally intense scrutiny at the exotic cultures her innate curiosity has motivated her to visit, from the jungles of Colombia to the streets of India and the attractions of the American South, in her search for belonging.

Joan Baker will be in conversation with Laura Yorke, editor, publisher, literary agent and author.