James Simmons launches "A Ghost Among Magnolias," with Sean Campbell

James Simmons will read from A Ghost Among Magnolias, followed by a conversation with writer and journalist Sean Campbell, audience Q&A, signing, and reception.

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Petronia Slater's life has been plotted out for her since birth, just like every other child of successful Black builder and landowner Alonzo Slater. But Petronia feels stifled by the carefully curated world she inhabits as the daughter of a wealthy businessman in turn-of-the-century Milledgeville, Georgia.

When curiosity about her mother's mysterious past gets the better of her, she sneaks out of her college dormitory to visit a disreputable neighborhood on the other side of Atlanta. There, she meets the young doctor Ben Simmons and dreams of running away for good. But history—and her family's ghost—have other ideas.

James Simmons is trained as a theater artist who has worked with St. Annes Warehouse, LaMaMa ETC, and Dixon Place. In 2022 he was invited to Djerassi’s Resident Artist Program. He lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Sean Campbell is a fiction writer and investigative journalist whose stories are often focus on the intersection of social and criminal justice, race, and public health. His story on the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation’s finances was one of the lead features for New York magazine’s “Ten Years Since Trayvon” issue, which was honored with a 2023 National Magazine Award, and his uncovering of the organization's purchase of a $6 million property with donor funds was one of the most widely covered stories of 2022. His other feature work has been published by Rolling Stone, ProPublica, and Business Insider, among other outlets, and his short fiction has been published with Hayden’s Ferry Review, Bellevue Literary Review, and PANK. He teaches journalism at Howard University, Morgan State, and Columbia University.