Skull Tree by Kristen Grace - Launch Party

October 3rd, 2024. 7pm

Centuries ago, terrified villagers spread rumors of a monster living in the woods. Once a year, they offer up a young woman to appease the mysterious creature. But what if the villagers are inadvertently creating the very thing they fear the most? In The Skull Tree, poet Kristen Grace creates a new work of mythology and a welcome for anyone made to feel monstrous for becoming what they had to in order to survive.

Kristen Grace is a journalist for 405 Magazine and Art Focus and a graduate from Oklahoma City University’s Red Earth MFA Program. She volunteers as a Creative Writing Leader at Palomar: Oklahoma’s Family Justice Center. She has authored a picture book, The Stepmother Who Dreamed of Feathers, as well as Wings, a collection of feminist fairy tales, through Literati Press. Her first collection of poetry, Love Letters for Women, was self-published.

The Skull Tree is co-published between Literati Press and The Leaves Poetry Press. Literati Press will be staging the reading at their expanded bookshop stage, created as part of the launch of a new creative writing center to advance Literati’s mission to advocate and mentor for the Oklahoma City storytelling community through open mics, readings, music, plays, and workshops focusing on a wide range of literary disciplines.