Jill McCorkle presents OLD CRIMES, with Kathy Pories

Jill McCorkle presents OLD CRIMES on Tuesday January 9 at 5:30 pm with Kathy Pories.

Tuesday, January 9, 2023 - Signing Line at 5:30 pm, Talk begins at 6:00 pm

Scroll down to order your book and please indicate in the comments if you’d like 1-2 seats held for you at the event!

Flyleaf will offer seating for up to 75 in-person guests, with priority access given to folks who purchase the book.


Beloved author Jill McCorkle delivers a collection of masterful stories that are as complex as novels—deeply perceptive, funny, and tragic in equal measure—about crimes large and small.

Jill McCorkle, author of the New York Times bestselling Life After Life and the widely acclaimed Hieroglyphics (“One of our wryest, warmest, wisest storytellers” —Rebecca Makkai), brings us a breathtaking collection of stories that offers an intimate look at the moments when a person’s life changes forever.

Old Crimes delves into the lives of characters who hold their secrets and misdeeds close, even as the past continues to reverberate over time and across generations. And despite the characters’ yearnings for connection, they can’t seem to tell the whole truth. In “Low Tones,” a woman uses her hearing impairment as a way to guard herself from her husband’s commentary. In “Lineman,” a telephone lineman strains to connect to his family even as he feels pushed aside in a digital world. In “Confessional,” a young couple buys a confessional booth for fun, only to discover the cost of honesty.

Profoundly moving and unforgettable, for fans of Alice Munro, Elizabeth Strout, and Lily King, the stories in Old Crimes reveal why McCorkle has long been considered a master of the form, probing lives full of great intensity, longing and affection, and deep regret.


Jill McCorkle has the distinction of having published her first two novels on the same day in 1984. Of these novels, the New York Times Book Review said: "one suspects the author of The Cheer Leader is a born novelist. With July 7th, she is also a full grown one." Since then she has published five other novels—most recently, Hieroglyphics—and four collections of short stories. Five of her books have been named New York Times notable books and four of her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories. McCorkle has received the New England Booksellers Award, the John Dos Passos Prize for Excellence in Literature, the North Carolina Award for Literature and the Thomas Wolfe Prize; she was recently inducted into the NC Literary Hall of Fame. McCorkle has taught at Harvard, Brandeis, and NC State where she remains affiliated with the MFA Program in creative writing and she is core faculty in the Bennington Writing Seminars.

Kathy Pories is an Executive Editor at Algonquin Books. She has been lucky enough to work with a slew of talented writers, and they have been winners and finalists for numerous awards including the National Book Award, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, the Kirkus Prize, and the Carnegie Mellon Prize. She loves pencils. She received her Ph.D. in English Literature from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Event date: 
Tuesday, January 9, 2024 - 5:30pm
Event address: 
752 Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Chapel Hill, NC 27514
Old Crimes By Jill McCorkle Cover Image
$27.00
ISBN: 9781616209735
Availability: Coming Soon - Available for Preorder Now
Published: Algonquin Books - January 9th, 2024

Hieroglyphics By Jill McCorkle Cover Image
$16.95
ISBN: 9781643751382
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Algonquin Books - May 4th, 2021

Life After Life: A Novel By Jill McCorkle Cover Image
$15.95
ISBN: 9781616203221
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Algonquin Books - November 5th, 2013

Going Away Shoes By Jill McCorkle Cover Image
$13.95
ISBN: 9781616200145
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Algonquin Books - September 14th, 2010

Creatures of Habit By Jill McCorkle Cover Image
$19.99
ISBN: 9781565123977
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Algonquin Books - March 28th, 2003

Ferris Beach By Jill McCorkle Cover Image
$13.95
ISBN: 9781565129313
Availability: On Our Shelves Now
Published: Algonquin Books - September 22nd, 2009