The Writer’s Center welcomes novelist Terri Lewis for a reading from her debut novel, Behold the Bird in Flight. Terri is joined by writer and former Writer Center instructor, Barbara Esstman, in conversation about the power of literary community and how lessons become craft.
FREE & open to the public. RSVP below.
Before she fell in love with the medieval period and became a writer, Terri Lewis had a career as a ballerina in German opera houses, got a BA in history and an MA in theater, and ran a dance company in Arkansas. She has published short stories in literary magazines and was accepted to the Sewanee Writers’ Conference as well as to advanced workshops with Rebecca Makkai and Laura van den Berg. Her next book, due out in May 2026 from Miami University Press, won their Novella Prize. She lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband and two lively dogs. Find her online at terrilewis1.com and her Substack terrilewis1.substack.com.
Barbara Esstman, MFA, is an NEA fellow, the co-editor of A More Perfect Union, and the author of many short stories. Her novels, The Other Anna and Night Ride Home, were published in multiple foreign editions and were both made into terrible (her word, not mine!) Hallmark movies. She taught creative writing workshops at local universities and at the Writer’s Center for 20 years. She currently edits and coaches writers working on novels and memoirs.
About the Book
Romantic and stubborn, young Isi plans to marry for love and be mistress of her own castle. But life in 1198 is full of threat and a series of tragic events teaches her growing up is hard.
When Isi falls for Hugh, a French nobleman, he consents to marry her, but only for her dowry. She longs for more. Hoping a jealous man will fall in love, she flirts with a king. The flirtation backfires: King John abducts and marries her. Now trapped in cold, warring England with a malicious husband, Isi must hide her yearning for Hugh and find her own power. If she fails, she won’t live to return to her beloved.
Inspired by real historical figures—Isabelle d’Angoulême, Hugh de Lusignan, and King John of Magna Carta fame—Behold the Bird in Flight is set in a period that valued women only for their dowries and childbearing. Isabelle’s story has been mainly erased by men, but the medieval chronicles suggest a woman who developed her own power and wielded it. And as the woman behind the throne, who’s to say she didn’t influence history?
If you need an accommodation for this event, please contact us at access@writer.org. We will attempt to fulfill all requests, but advance notice is necessary to arrange for some accessibility services.
Enjoying our free events? Help us offer more programs to support writers with a $10 donation »