Doors at 6pm · Conversation at 6:30pm
First Light Books, Hyde Park

Annie dances burlesque as Dog-Faced Girl, a masked act that barely covers rent. Then a letter arrives from the mother who abandoned her as a newborn, now dying on the remote Alaskan island where Annie grew up. Join us for the Texas launch of Roadshow, a debut that National Book Award winner Tess Gunty says "redefines the Western." Nikki will be in conversation with Austin novelist Alina Grabowski.

​

how to attend

This event is free and open to everyone.  RSVP for free, or buy a copy of Roadshow with your ticket to get a reserved seat and pick up your book at the event.

​

about the book

Annie is burning out. She performs at Club X as Dog-Faced Girl, a burlesque act in which she hides her face behind a dog mask. It's the only way she can dance, her greatest love, while making enough money for rent. But when she receives an unexpected letter from her estranged mother, Vera, postmarked from the remote island in rural Alaska where Annie grew up, her world stops.

Annie's mother abandoned her when she was only a few days old. Her father, a stoic, workaholic aluminum welder and fisherman, insisted on keeping her mother's identity a secret. But now, on her deathbed, Vera wants to meet Annie. And with her father recently passed, Annie knows it's time to return home. So she borrows a Buick LeSabre and sets out on an exhausting journey through the Midwest into Canada. On the road, Annie sleeps where she can. Her attempts at stripping are unsuccessful and humiliating. Her money dwindles. She begins to steal gas. For a thousand dollars, she agrees to dance for a bachelor party at a private lodge on a remote lake. After a delirious, dangerous night that she barely survives, she finally crosses the border into Alaska.

Sexy and fast-paced yet deeply felt, Roadshow explores the power of passion, inheritance, legacy, and class, and the grueling, smiling work of the stage and the hospitality industry. ​

"Nikki Ervice redefines the Western in this riveting, atmospheric, unsentimental, and defiantly hopeful debut."
Tess Gunty, National Book Award winner and author of The Rabbit Hutch

"Lost but driven, lonely but empathetic, reckless but somehow wise beyond her years, Nikki Ervice's Annie is a heroine like no other. This road trip will never take you where you expect to go — instead, Annie and the people she meets on her journey will bring you right to the heart of what it means to be human in this harsh yet sometimes beautiful world."
Anna North, bestselling author of Bog Queen

​

about the author

Nikki Ervice is a professional dancer and writer from rural Alaska. She is the winner of the Emily Clark Balch Prize from VQR. Her work has appeared in VQR, The Iowa Review, Colorado Review, Washington Square Review, Passages North, and elsewhere. She holds an MFA in fiction from Brooklyn College.

​

about the conversation partner

Alina Grabowski is the author of the novel Women and Children First. She grew up in coastal Massachusetts, holds degrees from the University of Pennsylvania and Vanderbilt University, and lives in Austin.

‍

‍