Kyle Hobratschk (left) and Virginia “Jennie” Reeves (right)

photo credit: Tom Fox (staff photographer for The Dallas Morning News)

Join us for a conversation between the author and illustrator of Once in the Blue Moon!

Set in 1940s Oklahoma on a red dirt cotton farm, Once in the Blue Moon is grounded in the realities of life near the end of World War II.

Maggie and her family are forced to endure a season of fear and failure as they face the loss of their home and their once-amazing Daddy to the whiskey bottle. Up against terrible truths and unforeseeable accidents, Maggie struggles in the dark and lonesome farmhouse.

When all seems lost, Maggie, her sisters, and her mother band together to overcome humiliation and tragedy. A tale of willpower in ordinary people who act with courage and grit, this story is ultimately one of resilience, forgiveness, and redemption.

Virginia Miller Reeves was born and raised on a cotton farm in Oklahoma. She is still married to the boy she met at fourteen after leaving that farm. Once in the Blue Moon is inspired by the author’s family stories, and set her life course of hard work, endless energy, and passion. A teacher, realtor, preservationist, mother, and grandmother, she lives with her husband Stuart in Dallas, Texas, at their ranch south of Fort Worth and in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Kyle Hobratschk is a painter, printmaker, and furniture maker, raised between the deserts of Saudi Arabia and Arizona before moving to Texas. He is founder and director of the 100W – Corsicana Artist and Writer Residency in Corsicana. This endeavor grew from the 1890s Odd Fellows Lodge he restored into studios, furnished with pieces made in the ground floor woodshop, to host and support artists and writers internationally. Kyle drew the copperplate etchings illustrating Virginia’s story in his studio across the street from 100W.