Since arriving at the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2009, Kerry Madden-Lunsford, MFA, professor in the Department of English, has thoughtfully encouraged emerging creative writers to share their stories with the world. Now, after nearly two decades of writing, reflecting, and editing, Madden-Lunsford is preparing to release her ninth book, Werewolf Hamlet, in February 2025.
Although the book is not available to the public yet, it is already receiving praise, including being selected for the Junior Library Guild Gold Selection and receiving a starred review from Booklist. To celebrate the new release (and subsequent book tour), Madden-Lunsford will host a special launch party at Red Mountain Theatre in partnership with Lanier Isom, Patti Callahan Henry, and The Alabama Booksmith on February 11. The event will feature two UAB actors, Knox Villemarette and Caleb Womack, who will perform the parts of Angus and Liam Gettlefinger—the main characters in the book. In addition, The Alabama Booksmith will sell copies of Werewolf Hamlet at the event. Learn more on the store's website.
Leading up to the event, the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) sat down with Madden-Lunsford to talk about the book, her upcoming tour, and her approach to supporting burgeoning creative writers.
CAS: Your new book, Werewolf Hamlet, comes out next month and has already received significant praise. Can you tell us a bit about the story and what compelled you to write it?
KML: I began writing Werewolf Hamlet in 2008 as a way to hang onto my children’s childhoods. My son was about to graduate from high school, and my daughter was starting high school, and the youngest was in fourth grade. It was all going by so fast. I was also wrapping up my Harper Lee book, the one that brought me to Alabama, and I wanted to return to fiction. Of course, the original draft was plotless and meandering, and I really began to write what would become the real Werewolf Hamlet after it was rejected by a slew of publishers in 2014. This is a story about one family’s journey with addiction told through the younger brother who wants to save his big brother. Angus Gettlefinger thinks if he puts on Hamlet with werewolves for his fifth-grade project, his big brother will see it and stop drinking and using and acting like a werewolf–preferably by Friday. Our family faced the same thing, and since I was powerless in the face of this monster of addiction, I took a counselor’s advice who said, “Write the book for the kids who need it.”
CAS: In your opinion, what readers are most likely to enjoy this book? Why?
KML: I hope kids enjoy it. Even though it’s a serious subject, I use a lot of humor, and I bring in the spirits of Charlie Chaplin, Lon Chaney, Buster Keaton, and Harry Houdini to dispense wisdom, since this book is set in Hollywood. I hope young readers will also realize they get to live their lives, and they don’t have to rescue anybody. There is also sword-fighting, a teacher who turns into a T-Rex from Angus’s POV, and an odyssey through Hollywood in search of a lost brother.
CAS: You have a really interesting release event scheduled at Red Mountain Theatre on February 11. Can you tell us a bit more about it?
KML: When George Saunders’s book, Lincoln in the Bardo, came out, he came to The Alabama Booksmith, and I brought my UAB fiction workshop to meet him. That night, I was also invited to read some of the characters in the book along with Patti Callahan Henry and Lanier Isom. It made for such a dynamic night rather than just a reading, which inspired me to find two UAB actors to read the brothers, Angus and Liam Gettlefinger, for the book launch at Red Mountain Theatre. In between each chapter are interludes called “Conversations with Liam in the Night” where the brothers talk to each other. Sometimes, Liam is sneaking in or sneaking out, and Angus is trying to make him behave, and they insult each other using the “Shakespearean Insulter,” saying things like: “Thou art a very ragged wart!”
CAS: What else is on the horizon with the new book? Can you share some of the cities you'll be visiting for your book tour?
KML: Since I’m teaching online, I will be visiting schools, libraries, and bookstores in Knoxville, Nashville, Los Angeles, San Diego, Tuscaloosa, Chicago, and Sylva, North Carolina, with more on the horizon. Besides the launch at Red Mountain Theatre, I’ll also be at Thank You Books on March 16 in conversation with author Irene Latham, and I’ll be doing an event at Sidewalk Cinema on March 22 showing some of the silent film clips. There is a scene in the book that takes place on Laurel and Hardy’s Music Box Steps with all four of the Gettlefinger kids.
CAS: You work with a lot of young creative writers through the Department of English. What advice do you share with students who are interested in writing their first book?
KML: It’s been wonderful to see so many of former UAB students bring books, short stories, TV scripts, poems, and podcasts out into the world from Randi Pink to Taylor Byas to Marie Sutton to Ashley Jones to Mollie Hawkins to Nadria Tucker to Hallie Cotton to Gautham Sanbandam to Donna Gossom Thomas to Beth Shelburne and many others, all of whom taught me way more than I ever taught them. I advise my students to get it down and then get it right. I also tell them to keep the editor at the door in the first draft, so they can feel free to write whatever they want to write without feeling judged. I invite them to go back to childhood and write from memories, using sensory details. I share with them the Anne Lamott quote too: “You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.” – Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird.
