Bywater Books Signs The Feasting Virgin by Georgia Kolias

Bywater Books is pleased to announce the acquisition of The Feasting Virgin (Summer 2020) by debut novelist Georgia Kolias. “This is a rich and luscious novel,” said publisher Salem West. “It’s smart and quirky, and Kolias gives her readers a heady mix of culinary and magical realism subthemes as she grapples with issues such as class, culture, sexuality, and religion.”

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In The Feasting Virgin, thirty-eight-year-old Xeni is secretly praying for a very real and very serious virgin birth. But when she unexpectedly falls for a free-spirited new mother during their sumptuous and sexy Greek cooking lessons, she begins to realize that before she can move forward, she must first reconcile her strict religious beliefs with her emerging sexuality. The only question is will she figure out that love is ultimately her highest power?

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“The Feasting Virgin taps into the cultural phenomenon of questioning religion and embracing spirituality. It explores the sometimes repressive nature of religion and posits that the greatest spiritual power and creator of miracles is authentic love.” —Georgia Kolias

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GEORGIA KOLIAS is a native San Franciscan and grew up in a traditional working-class Greek immigrant family. The juxtaposition of queer and immigrant culture often informs her writing. She holds a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing and a Master in English. Her personal essays have appeared in The Huffington Post, The Advocate, Everyday Feminism, Role Reboot, The Manifest-Station, and various anthologies. Georgia works in publishing as an Acquisitions Editor but has previously worked in nearly every other aspect of the book world, including literary management, publicity, bookselling, the public library system, and teaching creative writing. She lives in Oakland, California with her three inspiring and thoughtful children.

To learn more about Georgia, visit her website.