Book Launch: Dominic Smith’s “Return to Valetto”
Hugo House welcomes Dominic Smith, New York Times bestselling author of The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, as he launches his new novel, Return to Valetto. Set in a nearly abandoned town in Umbria, where just ten people remain, Return to Valetto is the story of one family’s reckoning with its own past and the weight of history across generations. Dominic will give a short reading, share some images from his travels in Italy, and be joined in conversation with Daniel Tam-Claiborne. Q&A and a book signing will follow.
The House bar will be open to serve alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages.Daniel Tam-Claiborne
Daniel Tam-Claiborne is a multiracial essayist and author of the short story collection What Never Leaves. His writing has appeared in Literary Hub, Off Assignment, The Rumpus, The Huffington Post, The Seventh Wave, and elsewhere. A 2022 National Endowment for the Arts Literature Fellow, he has also received fellowships and awards from the U.S. Fulbright Program, Kundiman, Writing By Writers, the Jack Straw Cultural Center, and others. Daniel holds degrees from Oberlin College, Yale University, and the MFA Program for Writers at Warren Wilson College.
Dominic Smith
Dominic Smith is the author of six novels, including The Last Painting of Sara de Vos, which was a New York Times bestseller and a New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice. His essays, reviews, and short fiction have appeared in numerous publications, including The Atlantic, Texas Monthly, the Chicago Tribune, The New York Times, and The Australian. He is a recipient of the Dobie Paisano Fellowship from the Texas Institute of Letters, a new works grant from the Australia Council for the Arts, and a Literature Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
